Distant ridges in misty fields, no close friends.
Time flies and I am invested in embroidered robes.
I take my mirror from its box to find my hair's a mess.
Green hills, warm stove, thick incense smoke.
I am deeply moved to find the mighty remember me.
I miss you a little and write you as light fades in my door.
Don't begrudge me the goat cart. Don't frown at these lines.
Shedding willows, bursting plums, so much fragrance.
茫茫九陌无知己，暮去朝来典绣衣。
宝匣镜昏蝉鬓乱，博山炉暖麝烟微。
多情公子春留句，少思文君昼掩扉。
莫惜羊车频列载，柳丝梅绽正芳菲。
In line 5, 公子 means "son of royalty." Perhaps Yu Xuanji's father was highly placed and as a child she knew a prince's son as a playmate. These things happen. This could be the same friend from the titles of poems 13 and 17. Her discretion keeps us from knowing who he is. or there might be more than one friend out there.
Classical Chinese poetry thrives on Concision and Ambiguity. Without tense or number, the words create a timeless space where the reader becomes the co-creator of the poem's meaning.
Look for Contrasts: light and shadow, movement and stillness. Don't just translate the words; feel the Yijing (artistic conception) that lingers long after the last character.
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