念奴娇. 萧条庭院
原作：李清照 英译：戈登.奥赛茵，闵晓红
萧条庭院，
又斜风细雨，
重门须闭。
宠柳娇花寒食近，
种种恼人天气。
险韵诗成，
扶头酒醒，
别是闲滋味。
征鸿过尽，
万千心事难寄。
楼上几日春寒，
帘垂四面，
玉阑干慵倚。
被冷香消新梦觉，
不许愁人不起。
清露晨流，
新桐初到，
多少游春意。
日高烟敛，
更看今日晴未。
Rains threading across the wintered yard
- to the Tune of Niannujao
written by Li Qingzhao
translated by Gordon Osing & Julia Min
Rains threading across the wintered yard
and all the doors desolate, locked shut,
the Cold Food Festival is getting closer,
a time for flowers and willows to flutter.
I languish over a poem with hard rhymes,
and at dawn still more of last night's wine.
The messenger geese are gone, my mind
too heavy anyway to send a word to anyone.
How many days! The upper room's cold in spring!
The limp curtains and balcony miss our company.
The incense dead, my quilt chilled through the night,
my dreams are gone and me, having no desire to rise.
So what's this? The dew thick like jewels on the leaves
sprouted on parasol trees inviting me for an outing?
The sun seems lifting the grey before my eyes;
But look again, it might not stay this clear in time.
Appreciation:
According to Another Collection of Li Qingzhao, this ci was composed in 1121 , when the poet was living in Qingzhou. Sometimes it is called "Spring Thoughts" in some other collections. It is her response to loneliness during her husband's absence, to be sure, and also her spirit's determination and sentiments in reaffirming its relation to the outer world.
Notes:
① "han shi": the Cold Food Festival;
② "fu tou jiu": "easy drunk wine ", i.e., it is easy to get drunk with wine first thing in
the morning if one had been drinking before going to sleep the night before.
③ "lan gan": jade rail, i.e., again, not actual jade, but simply "ideal" or perfect rail, or
vista, vantage point for watching, also watching for her husband's returning.
④ "bu xu...bu qi": a double negative, as in Elizabethan English, for emphasis. i.e., it does
not allow a weary person to get up .
⑤ "tong ": parasol tree.
Pinying and Word -For-Word Translation:
niàn nú jiāo . xiāo tiáo tíng yuàn
xiāo tiáo tíng yuàn ，
yòu xié fēng xì yǔ ，
zhòng mén xū bì 。
chǒng liǔ jiāo huā hán shí jìn ，
zhǒng zhǒng nǎo rén tiān qì 。
xiǎn yùn shī chéng ，
fú tóu jiǔ xǐng ，
bié shì xián zī wèi 。
zhēng hóng guò jìn ，
wàn qiān xīn shì nán jì 。
lóu shàng jǐ rì chūn hán ，
lián chuí sì miàn ，
yù lán gàn yōng yǐ 。
bèi lěng xiāng xiāo xīn mèng jiào ，
bú xǔ chóu rén bú qǐ 。
qīng lù chén liú ，
xīn tóng chū dào ，
duō shǎo yóu chūn yì 。
rì gāo yān liǎn ，
gèng kàn jīn rì qíng wèi 。
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