English Rendering
It was in 1082, the following night after July’s full moon, when I took my friends for a drink in a boat, rowing upstream from the Red Cliff. The Yangtze River seemed dosing off into a peaceful slumber in the cool breeze under the cosy moonlight. I raised a toast, and soon we started reciting together the famous moon poems from The Book of Song Lyrics, and picking up the tune of the first lyric on Her charming beauty. By now the fair Moon, cloudless, had ascended well above the musical skyline of the eastern hills, gracefully taking her pace between the Dipper and the Hunter. We floated on a sea of gleaming waves that joined the sky beyond. Before long, our chemistry ran boiling high and we felt breezy like wings riding the wind, roaming in the dome of firmament, as if entered the dream world of Heaven.
On and on we toasted with drinks while tapping the boat sides to the rhythm, on and on we sang the famous romantic hymns:
“On a cinnamon boat with magnolia oars we row and row.
Floating on the moonlight ripples, upstream we go and go.
My yearning has been soaked in the song, so deep and long.
Roaming in poetry motion, my beauty’s above and beyond.
… …”
Then one friend started echoing the tune with his flute. The music deepened the sentiments, weaving them with intense love and desperate longing for reunion, and a nameless sadness confessing regrets. When we finished, the rhymes and vibes lingered on, rippling in the air across the dreaming river. Should there be a dragon living in a deep valley under the waves, it would emerge and dance to the music in the sky. Should there be a widow on the boat, she would be surely moved and cry.
I was a bit lost in the change of mood, becoming curious at the same time. So I sat up straight and asked my friend why on earth picked such a sad tune for such a beautiful night. He looked up and replied: “Just look beyond, in the expanse amidst the waters, --‘To the south the black crows fly,/ Through dimming stars in moonlit sky.’ Is this place a perfect match for the verse of the great leader Mengde (Cao Cao’s social name)? And over there, west and east, are Xiakou and Wuchang facing each other, with lush green hills rolling down both banks of the River. If this is not where Mengde was trapped by General Zhou, then where could it be? The great and mighty leader, who came and conquered Jingzhou, took Jianglin city, and followed Yangtse’s flow down to here. His great fleet was said to cover hundreds of miles end to end, like a moving great wall holding up the sky with flags and sails. There he stood by the River, wielding a long spear in one hand, holding wine in the other. He toasted to the River with his Short Verse Lyric. … …. Nonetheless, as powerful and heroic as he was, where is he now? Even he could lose his mark in the running waves of times, so where could you and I stand in the long streaming river? We are just a bunch of fishermen enjoying a drink on a leafy boat, and leading a life by the river with elks, fish and shrimps, with a lifespan short like a mayfly compared with the ever-present Nature, and a role as teeny tiny as a drop in the ocean. I can’t help but grieve for our short lives in this world where the Yangtse River has been running as if forever. How I wish to be a celestial, roving the earth to the end in the company of the fair Moon. But it’s a dream that will never come true, so here I am sending all my regrets and yearnings through my flute to the cool wind.”
“Do you really know the truth of the running water and the bright moon?” I said. “Time passes by like the water flowing out of our sight, but still exists somewhere in the river. The moon’s waxing and waning, but does not really wax nor wane. The changing cycle of waxing and waning is constant. A dynamic perspective would take you to a world that never stops changing, whereas a static point of view would take you to the constant nature of the universe, the source of which is nothing but energy. This energy, while giving birth to matter forms that would change, remains constant, even, and fulfilled in nature, never in need for less or more. So why should we hunger for anything beyond our means? The world changes but the rule of change doesn’t change. Every experience in our lives is governed by this rule, defining each individual’s fate with an accurate touch, not a penny more, not a penny less. Nevertheless, the breeze on the river becomes cool when your ear and body sense it. The moonlight is bright and soothing as your eyes pick up her pleasant beams. Such treasures of Nature are boundless since ancient, and forever free for every living soul to enjoy. Do you agree?”
My friend broke into an understanding smile, starting to wash his wine cup in the river for a new round of rice wine. The party carried on into the night till all the food and fruits were finished, leaving messy tables with empty cups and plates. Before long, the Moon saw us reclined on each other, sinking into oblivion of dreams, while the morning dawn is about to break in the east.
