定风波·常羡人间琢玉郎 My home is where my heart can find peace

定风波·常羡人间琢玉郎

（王定国歌儿曰柔奴，姓宇文氏，眉目娟丽，善应对，家世住京师。定国南迁归，余问柔：“广南风土， 应是不好？”柔对曰：“此心安处，便是吾乡。”因为缀词云。）

原作: 苏轼（字子瞻, 号东坡居士; 11世纪北宋）

英译: 闵晓红(2024.01)

常羡人间琢玉郎，

天应乞与点酥娘。

尽道清歌传皓齿，

风起，

雪飞炎海变清凉。

万里归来年愈少

微笑，

笑时犹带岭梅香。

试问岭南应不好，

却道：

此心安处是吾乡。

My home is where my heart can find peace 

-to the tune “After the Storm”

Chinese original: Su Shi（11th Century）

English version: Julia Min（2024）

(My friend Dingguo Wang has a concubine named Rounu Yuwen. She was once a singing girl, beautiful and exceptionally eloquent. When Dingguo was banished to Hainan, she chose to go with him, leaving their home in the capital. I asked her: “Life in the southern wastelands must be very hard, isn’t it?” She replied, “ My home is where my heart can find peace.” Moved, I composed this ci poem.)

I often admire my friend, Dingguo,

A man blessed with grace and more,

A life companion—the fair lady Rounu,

Whose voice comes from Heaven’s shore,

Cool as a breeze across a snowing sea—

A soothing relief in the summer heat.

Their life south must have worn her out,

Yet on her face, no trace of time is found.

She’s back younger, with a subtle fragrance—

The grace of jade in Hainan plum blossoms.

“How come?” I asked. She replied at ease:

“My home is where my heart can find peace.”

Appreciation:

This ci was composed in late 1085, when Su Shi returned to the capital from Huangzhou—a time of political reunion for the recalled conservative faction. Wang ong (Dingguo) had completed his banishment on Hainan Island. His concubine, Rounu, like Su Shi's own Zhaoyun, endured the hardships of the desolate south. She was not only skilled in dance and song but also a doctor, trained by her father and his peers after her father was imprisoned through malicious intrigue.

The poem is best known for its final line, which is not Su Shi's creation but Rounu's own words. Su Shi's genius lay in recognising the profundity of an ordinary woman's wisdom, preserving it without embellishment, and crafting a poem that frames it like a jewel in a simple setting. It has become a popular saying, keeping Dingguo and Rounu alive for a thousand years. A similar theme appears in the West—the English proverb "Home is where the heart is," or Erasure's 1989 hit "Blue Savannah": "My home is where the heart is / Sweet to surrender..."

Reference:

1. 古诗文网 so.gushiwen.cn

2. picture from 《希望之声》