鱼玄机·《次韵西邻新居兼乞酒》英译

一首诗来百度吟，新情字字又声金。

西看已有登垣意，远望能无化石心。

河汉期赊空极目，潇湘梦断罢调琴。

况逢寒节添乡思，叔夜佳醪莫独斟。

Following the Rhyme Words of a Poem Written by My New Neighbor to the West, in Order to Beg Some Wine from Him      

Yu Xuanji

Your single poem came, and I chanted it a hundred times.

New feelings with every word along with its sounds of gold.

Looking west, I’ve already a mind to climb the fence; ¹

Gazing afar, how can I help having a heart like hers who changed to stone? ²

But the tryst at the Silver River is distant: in vain I gaze to the horizon; ³

The dream of Xiao and Xiang is broken off: I cease tuning my lute. ⁴

Even worse, this season of chill adds to my longing for home

So don’t pour out Shuye’s excellent wine alone! ⁵

1. From Song Yu’s poem “Master Dengtu the Lecher.” The fourth-century B.C.E. poet Song Yu, accused of being a libertine, countered with the argument that his beautiful eastern neighbor had been making eyes at him over the fence for three years, but he had refused to respond to her.  

2. Many local stories tell of a woman who waited faithfully for her husband’s return from the army until she was changed to stone.      

3. On the Silver River (Milky Way) and the Double Seventh festival.      

4. The Xiao and Xiang Rivers were associated with the river goddesses of the Chuci, as well as with the mourning wives of Shun.      

5. Shuye was the personal name of the famous poet Ji Kang.    

（Jennifer Carpenter 译）

To a New Neighbor, Answering a Verse and Asking for Wine

Yu Xuanji

Your poem’s been delivered,

and recited a hundred times;

there’s freshness in each letter,

as well as an elegant rhyme.

Since my neighbor wishes

to come and visit me,

can I remain remote, aloof

without a heart of stone?

Hopes of lovers meeting remote,

Empty skies fill the eyes;

Dreams of togetherness broken,

my lute’s gone out of tune.

All the more in this wintry cold

I feel nostalgia for home;

if you’ve got wine like the sages of old,

please don’t drink it alone.

（Bannie Chow, Thomas Cleary 译）