Too Sad with Spring Passing to Braid and Comb
- to the Tune of Huanxisha
Translated by Gordon Osing and Julia Min
Too sad with Spring passing to braid and comb,
too quick the night wind blows the plum blossoms,
too many the cloud wisps, blurring the dim moon.
Neglected my jade incense burner, the duckling one,
the fragrant heart and bed net lying in last night's ruins:
a spell broken only by a gold rhinoceros' horn.
Appreciation:
The consensus is that this ci was composed sometime before 1107, based on its emotional urgencies. It is sometimes titled "Boudoir Sentiments". The original text describes the lady abandoning her own ennui for an outer world, which appears to mirror them in insoluble ways. Finally she says only the fabled rhino's magic horn could dispel the gloom. The western Freud would, perhaps, find a thing or two to speculate about in that.
The Source Text in Chinese:
浣溪沙.髻子伤春慵更梳
作者：李清照
髻子伤春慵更梳，
晚风庭院落梅初。
淡云来往月疏疏。
玉鸭熏炉闲瑞脑，
朱樱斗帐掩流苏。
遗犀还解辟寒无？
Pinying and Word -For-Word Translation:
huàn xī shā – the musical tune;
jì zǐ shāng chūn yōng gèng shū - hair coil sad for spring lazy to comb,
wǎn fēng tíng yuàn luò méi chū - evening wind courtyard fall plum blossom begin.
dàn yún lái wǎng yuè shū shū - thin clouds come go moon dim dim.
yù yā xūn lú xián ruì nǎo - jade duck-shaped burner left aside/unused incense,
zhū yīng dòu zhàng yǎn liú sū - red cherry mosquito net covers liusu.
yí xī hái jiě pì hán wú - the rhinoceros could know drive away cold?
Notes:
zhu ying: red cherry, or heart-shaped pouch, used to hold fragrances, on hanging bed decorations.
dou zhang: the bed netting, hung over the usual frame over the bed, inverted, resembling the shape "dou" (斗ㄩ), also a unit of measure.
liu su: brocade covering, also hung over the bed frame to keep warmth in.
yi xi: rhinoceros, horn, mythical, taken from an old story about Emperor Wen Di in the Sui Dynasty. When the Emperor received as a gift the golden horn of a rhino, his chambers immediately warmed and all expressed wonder. Later, the great scholar of Chinese medicine Li Shi-zhen propounded that the horn of a golden rhinoceros can drive away a chilly spell, meaning "Only in fable is there an end to this spell" .
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