(130) Lin Dai-Yu's Elegy On Flowers
黛玉葬花辞
Cao Xue-qin (1715-1763)
曹雪芹
As flowers fall and petals fly across the sky,
花谢花飞飞满天，
Who pities the reds that fade and the scents that die?
红消香断有谁怜？
Softly the gossamer floats over bowers green;
游丝软系飘春榭，
Gently the willow fluff wafts to embroidered screen.
落絮轻沾扑绣帘。
I am grieved in my chamber to see spring depart.
闺中女儿惜春暮，
O where can I pour out my sorrow-laden heart?
愁绪满怀无着处；
I step through my portal, holding in hand a hoe.
手把花锄出绣帘，
On fallen petals could I bear to come and go?
忍踏落花来复去。
The willow threads and the elm leaves are fresh and gay;
柳丝榆荚自芳菲，
They care not if peach and plum blossoms drift away.
不管桃飘与李飞；
Both the peach and the plum will bloom again next year,
桃李明年能再发，
But in my broidered chamber who will then appear?
明年闺中知有谁？
By the third moon the swallows built their fragrant nest,
三月香巢初垒成，
But apathetically on the beam they rest.
梁间燕子太无情！
Next year though they may peck the buds and clay again,
明年花发虽可啄，
Can their nest on the beam of my chamber ramain?
却不道人去梁空,巢也倾。
O in the three hundred and sixty days each year
一年三百六十日。
The cutting wind and biting frost make flowers sear!
风刀霜剑严相逼；
How long can their fragrant blossoms last fresh and fair?
明媚鲜妍能几时，
Once when they're blown away, they can be found nowhere.
一朝漂泊难寻觅。
It's harder to find flowers fallen than in bloom;
花开易见落难寻，
Before the steps their grave-digger is filled with gloom.
阶前愁煞葬花人；
Alone with hoe in hand, my tears secretly shed
独把花锄偷洒泪，
On their bare braches like drops of blood turn them red.
洒上空枝见血痕。
As twilight falls, the woeful cuckoos sing no more;
杜鹃无语正黄昏，
I come back with my hoe and close the double door.
荷锄归去掩重门；
Abed in dimly-lit chamber when night is still,
青灯照壁人初睡，
Cold rain pelts my window and I feel my quilt chill.
冷雨敲窗被未温。
I wonder why I should be thrown in such a fret;
怪侬底事倍伤神？
Is it for love of spring or is it for regret?
半为怜春半恼春；
I love spring when it comes and regret when it goes;
怜春忽至恼忽去，
It comes and goes as silently as water flows.
至又无言去不闻。
Last night from the courtyard a plaintive dirge was heard.
昨宵庭外悲歌发，
Was it sung by the soul of flower or of bird?
知是花魂与鸟魂？
The bird's soul or the flower's is hard to detain;
花魂鸟魂总难留，
The flowers are bashful and silent birds remain.
鸟自无言花自羞；
I long on wings to fly
愿侬此日生双翼，
With flowers to the end of the earth and the sky.
随花飞到天尽头。
At earth's uttermost bound,
天尽头！
Where can I find a sweet-scented burial mound?
何处有香丘？
Why don't I shroud in silken bag the petals fair
未若锦囊收艳骨，
And bury them in earth with which they'll blend fore'er?
一抔净土演飞流；
For pure they come and pure they go,
质本洁来还洁去，
Not sinking into dirt below.
不教污淖陷渠沟。
Now they are dead, I come to bury them today.
尔今死去侬收葬，
Who can divine the date when I shall pass away?
未卜侬身何日丧？
Men laugh at my folly in burying fallen flowers.
侬今葬花人笑痴，
But who will bury me when come my final hours?
他年葬侬知是谁？
See spring depart and flowers wither by and by!
试看春残花渐落，
This is the time when beauty must grow old and die.
便是红颜老死时。
One day when spring is gone and beauty dead, alas!
一朝春尽红颜老，
Who will care for the fallen bloom and buried lass?
花落人亡两不知！