李贺·《金铜仙人辞汉歌》英译

魏明帝青龙元年八月，诏宫官牵车，西取汉孝武捧露盘仙人，欲立置前殿。宫官既拆盘，仙人临载，乃潸然泪下。唐诸王孙李长吉遂作《金铜仙人辞汉歌》。

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> 

茂陵刘郎秋风客，夜闻马嘶晓无迹。

画栏桂树悬秋香，三十六宫土花碧。

魏宫牵车指千里，东关酸风射眸子。

空将汉月出宫门，忆君请泪如铅水。

衰兰送客咸阳道，天若有情天亦老。

携盘独出月荒凉，渭城已远波声小。

Song of the Bronze Statue

Li He

In the eighth month of the first year of the Qinglong era, during the reign of Emperor Ming of Wei, the court ordered a palace officer to ride west and bring back the gilded bronze figure of an immortal holding a disc to catch dew made during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, in order to set it up in the front court. When the palace officer removed the disc and took the statue to his carriage, the bronze figure shed tears. So Li Changji, descended from a prince of the House of Tang, wrote this song.

Gone that emperor of Maoling,

Rider through the autumn wind,

Whose horse neighs at night

And has passed without trace by dawn.

The fragrance of autumn lingers still

On those cassia trees by painted galleries,

But on every palace hall the green moss grows.

As Wei’s envoy sets out to drive a thousand li

The keen wind at the East Gate stings the statue’s eyes…

From the ruined palace he brings nothing forth

But the moon-shaped disc of Han,

True to his lord, he sheds leaden tears,

And withered orchids by the Xianyang Road

See the traveller on his way.

Ah, if Heaven had a feeling heart, it too much grow old!
He bears the disc off alone

By the light of a desolate moon,

The town far behind him, muted its lapping waves.