The most romantic poems about love in the ancients include: "Jiang Chengzi·Dreams on the 20th day of the first lunar month of Yimao", "Five Poems on Li Si·Four", "Drumming", "Businessman·Answers" , "Bodhisattva Man·The bright moon and the dark cage of light mist" etc.
1. "Jiang Chengzi·Dreams on the Twentieth Day of the First Month of Yi Mao" by Su Shi of the Song Dynasty
Ten years of life and death are so vast that they cannot be forgotten without thinking. Thousands of miles of lonely tomb, no place to speak of desolation. Even if we meet each other, we should not know each other, our faces are covered with dust and our temples are like frost.
At night, I suddenly returned home with a deep dream, and I was dressing up outside the small window. They looked at each other without words, only a thousand lines of tears. It is expected that the broken part of the intestines will be cut off every year, on a bright moonlit night, there will be short pines.
Translation:
It has been ten years since we said goodbye to each other, and I can’t bear to miss you. But it’s unforgettable in the end. That lonely grave thousands of miles away, there was no place to tell her the desolation and sadness in her heart. Even if we meet, you won't recognize me. My face is covered with dust and my temples are like frost.
Last night I returned to my hometown again in my dream, at the window of the hut. Dressing up. You and I were silent and miserable, we could only shed a thousand lines of tears in silence. I imagined that the moonlit graveyard with small pine trees growing there was the place where I missed my wife with heartache every year.
2. "Five Poems on Lisi, No. 4" by Yuan Zhen of the Tang Dynasty
There was a time when the sea was difficult to overcome, except for Wushan, it was not a cloud.
Looking back lazily at Huacong, I am half destined to practice Taoism and half destined to be a king.
Translation:
If you have been to the sea, you will not care about the water elsewhere; except for Wushan, the clouds elsewhere will not be called clouds.
I walked through the flowers in a hurry, not bothering to look back. The reason for this is partly because of the asceticism of the monks, and partly because of the you I once had.
3. "Drum Beating" Pre-Qin Dynasty·Anonymous
The relationship between life and death is broad, as explained by Zicheng. Hold your son's hand and grow old together.
I can’t live without you. Yu Xunxi, I don’t believe you.
Translation:
In the mountains and forests, life and death gather and disperse, I once said to you. Hold your hand and grow old with you.
Alas, it has been too long and I have been unable to meet you. Alas, it is too far away for me to fulfill my oath.
4. "Bu Shuzi·Answer" Song Dynasty·Lewan
Acacia is as deep as the sea, and old things are as far away as the sky. Thousands of tears are shed, which makes people even more heartbroken.
If you want to see without cause, it will be difficult to fight. If there was no predestined relationship in the previous life, we will wait for reconnection and make a wish in the next life.
Translation:
After parting, the painful lovesickness is as deep and boundless as the ocean, which makes me suffer. The beautiful past is like the clouds in the sky, far away. I want to hold on to this other moment, and I have shed thousands of tears, but I cannot keep my lover who has traveled far away, which makes me heartbroken.
I want to meet my lover but I can't. I want to end this love but I can't let it go. If you and I were not destined to be together in the previous life and we got married, then we would have to wait for the next life.
5. "Bodhisattva Barbarian: The bright moon and the bright flowers cover the light mist" Five Dynasties·Li Yu
The bright moon and flowers cover the light mist. It's good to go to Langbian tonight. Wearing socks and walking up the fragrant steps, carrying gold-leafed shoes.
Seeing him on the south bank of the painting hall, he trembled for a while. It is difficult for a slave to come out, so teach him to show mercy to you.
Translation:
On a good night when the flowers are in bloom, the moon is hazy, and the mist is misty, I can just meet you. Holding embroidered shoes in hand and bare socks, she walked up the incense steps step by step.
I finally saw you on the south side of the main room! Snuggled in your arms, my body still couldn't stop trembling. Do you know how difficult it is for me to come out and see you once? You have to take pity on me.