韦庄·《菩萨蛮·其一》英译

菩萨蛮

韦庄

红楼别夜堪惆怅，

香灯半卷流苏帐。

残月出门时，

美人和泪辞。

琵琶金翠羽，

弦上黄莺语。

劝我早归家，

绿窗人似花。

Tune: “Pu Sa Man”

Dreaming in Autumn

Wei Zhuang

How can one not be sad in a red

chamber on parting night?

The tasseled canopy was half

closed in scented lamplight.

The waning moon was still hanging when I left home.

With tears in her eyes, she said good-bye.

She played the pipa decorated with

a golden-green feather.

She plucked the strings in oriole language

for me to decipher.

She advised me to return home soon.

For the person by the green window

would be like a flower in bloom.

（Edward C. Chang 译）

Pu’ Sa Man

(To the Tune-title ‘The Strange Goddesses’)

Wei Zhuang

North and South

I

Parting at night in the upper room what preys to grief we were –

Lamp-lit fragrance and those half-rolled tasseled curtains there.

The moon was waning as I left the house;

Your beauty shone in every farewell tear.

Your gilt guitar, king-fisher blue inlaid,

Its strings a golden-oriole’s serenade,

Urged me to come back soon, to come back soon

To the green-gauze window veiling a flower-fresh maid.

（Duncan Mackintosh, Ch’eng His and T’ung Ping-Cheng 译）