鱼玄机·《感怀寄人》英译

恨寄朱弦上，含情意不任。

早知云雨会，未起蕙兰心。

灼灼桃兼李，无妨国士寻。

苍苍松与桂，仍羡世人钦。

月色苔阶净，歌声竹院深。

门前红叶地，不扫待知音。

Deeply Moved, I Send This to Someone   

Yu Xuanji

I entrust my bitterness to a lute’s crimson strings,

Hold back passion my thoughts unbearable.

Long ago I knew that a cloud-rain meeting

Would not give rise to an orchid heart. ¹

Fresh and shining, the peach and the plum ²

Nothing prevents eminent scholars from seeking them out.

Grey-green, the pine and the cassia ³

Still they long for honor from the people of the age.

The moon’s hue is pure on mossy steps,

Song comes from deep within the bamboo garden.

Before my gate ground covered with red leaves,

I don’t sweep them away, waiting for one who understands me.

1. On “clouds and rain,” The orchid, by allusion to the “Li sao” of Qu Yuan, signifies an upright and virtuous mind.   

2. Peach and plum trees occur in the Book of Odes as images for marriageable women.  

3. Pine and cassia are proverbially enduring plants. The meaning of this pair of couplets is not exclusively sexual: similar wording might be used by a man bemoaning his lack of a patron.    

（Jennifer Carpenter 译）

Feeling for Another

Yu Xuanji

Lodging my regrets

in the strings of my lute,

I keep feelings to myself

and do not let them out.

Though I know erotic arts

I still haven’t fallen in love.

Like a beautiful peach or a plum,

I may be sought by all in the land,

but still I envy the honors

that are given to only a man.

The moonlight clean on the mossy stairs,

from the bamboo grove a song appears.

I do not sweep the crimson leaves

that lie before my door,

because I’m waiting patiently

for my paramour.

（Bannie Chow, Thomas Cleary 译）