Song of Eternal Sorrow
Bai Juyi in Tang Dynasty
Original:
china's Emperor, craving beauty that might shake an empire, was on the throne for many years, searching, never finding.
till a little child of the Yang clan, hardly even grown, bred in an inner chamber, with no one knowing her.
but with graces granted by heaven and not to be concealed, at last one day was chosen for the imperial household.
if she but turned her head and smiled, there were cast a hundred spells, and the powder and paint of the Six Palaces faded into nothing.
it was early spring. They bathed her in the FlowerPure Pool, which warmed and smoothed the creamy-tinted crystal of her skin.
and, because of her languor, a maid was lifting her, when first the Emperor noticed her and chose her for his bride.
the cloud of her hair, petal of her cheek, gold ripples of her crown when she moved, were sheltered on spring evenings by warm hibiscus curtains.
but nights of spring were short and the sun arose too soon, and the Emperor, from that time forth, forsook his early hearings.
and lavished all his time on her with feasts and revelry, his mistress of the spring, his despot of the night.
there were other ladies in his court, three thousand of rare beauty, but his favours to three thousand were concentered in one body.
The Golden House is dressed up to serve the night, and when tables were cleared in the Tower of Jade, she would loiter, slow with wine.
all brothers and sisters are emigrants, and, because she so illumined and glorified her clan.
she brought to every father, every mother through the empire, happiness when a girl was born rather than a boy.
...High rose Li Palace, entering blue clouds, and far and wide the breezes carried magical notes.
of soft song and slow dance, of string and bamboo music, the Emperor's eyes could never gaze on her enough.
till war-drums, booming from Yuyang, shocked the whole earth, and broke the tunes of The Rainbow Skirt and the Feathered Coat.
the Forbidden City, the nine-tiered palace, loomed in the dust, from thousands of horses and chariots headed southwest.
the imperial flag opened the way, now moving and now pausing, but thirty miles from the capital, beyond the western gate.
the men of the army stopped, not one of them would stir, till under their horses' hoofs they might trample those moth-eyebrows.
flowery hairpins fell to the ground, no one picked them up, and a green and white jade hair-tassel and a yellowgold hair-bird.
the Emperor could not save her, he could only cover his face, and later when he turned to look, the place of blood and tears.
was hidden in a yellow dust blown by a cold wind, at the cleft of the Dagger-Tower Trail they crisscrossed through a cloud-line.
under Emei Mountain. The last few came, flags and banners lost their colour in the fading sunlight.
but as waters of Shu are always green and its mountains always blue, so changeless was His Majesty's love and deeper than the days.
he stared at the desolate moon from his temporary palace, he heard bell-notes in the evening rain, cutting at his breast.
and when heaven and earth resumed their round and the dragon car faced home, the Emperor clung to the spot and would not turn away.
from the soil along the Mawei slope, under which was buried, that memory, that anguish. Where was her jade-white face?.
ruler and lords, when eyes would meet, wept upon their coats, as they rode, with loose rein, slowly eastward, back to the capital.
the pools, the gardens, the palace, all were just as before, the Lake Taiye hibiscus, the Weiyang Palace willows.
but a petal was like her face and a willow-leaf her eyebrow, and what could he do but cry whenever he looked at them?.
Spring breezes, peaches and plums bloom at night, lakka-foliage fell to the ground, after autumn rains.
autumn grass in Xigong Nanyuan, and the steps were mounded with red leaves that no one swept away.
Li Yuan disciple Bai Fuxin, and the eunuchs thin-eyebrowed in her Court of PepperTrees;.
over the throne flew fire-flies, while he brooded in the twilight., he would lengthen the lamp-wick to its end and still could never sleep..
bell and drum would slowly toll the dragging nighthours, and the River of Stars grow sharp in the sky, just before dawn.
and the porcelain mandarin-ducks on the roof grow thick with morning frost, who's with * * *?
with the distance between life and death year after year, and yet no beloved spirit ever visited his dreams.
at Lingqiong lived a Taoist priest who was a guest of heaven, able to summon spirits by his concentrated mind.
and people were so moved by the Emperor's constant brooding, that they besought the Taoist priest to see if he could find her.
he opened his way in space and clove the ether like lightning, up to heaven, under the earth, looking everywhere.
above, he searched the Green Void, below, the Yellow Spring, but he failed, in either place, to find the one he looked for.
and then he heard accounts of an enchanted isle at sea, the mountains are in the middle of nothingness.
with pavilions and fine towers in the five-coloured air, and of exquisite immortals moving to and fro.
and of one among them-whom they called The Ever True, with a face of snow and flowers resembling hers he sought.
so he went to the West Hall's gate of gold and knocked at the jasper door, and asked a girl, called Morsel-of-Jade, to tell The Doubly- Perfect.
and the lady, at news of an envoy from the Emperor of China, was startled out of dreams in her nine-flowered, canopy.
she pushed aside her pillow, dressed, shook away sleep, and opened the pearly shade and then the silver screen.
her cloudy hair-dress hung on one side because of her great haste, and her flower-cap was loose when she came along the terrace.
The wind blows the fairy maiden, as though she danced The Rainbow Skirt and the Feathered Coat.
and the tear-drops drifting down her sad white face, were like a rain in spring on the blossom of the pear.
but love glowed deep within her eyes when she bade him thank her liege, whose form and voice had been strange to her ever since their parting.
since happiness had ended at the Court of the Bright Sun, and moons and dawns had become long in Fairy-Mountain Palace.
but when she turned her face and looked down toward the earth, and tried to see the capital, there were only fog and dust.
show affection for the old, and, through his envoy, sent him back a shell box and gold hairpin.
but kept one branch of the hairpin and one side of the box, breaking the gold of the hairpin, breaking the shell of the box.
But your heart is as strong as gold, somewhere, sometime, on earth or in heaven, we shall surely.
and she sent him, by his messenger, a sentence reminding him, of vows which had been known only to their two hearts.
on the seventh day of the Seventh-month, in the Palace of Long Life, we told each other secretly in the quiet midnight world.
that we wished to fly in heaven, two birds with the wings of one, and to grow together on the earth, two branches of one tree..
earth endures, heaven endures; some time both shall end, while this unending sorrow goes on and on for ever.
Translation:
Emperor Ming of Tang preferred beauty. After becoming emperor, he has been looking for beautiful women for many years, but he found nothing. The Yang family has a daughter who has just grown up and is very delicate and charming. She is raised in a boudoir, and outsiders don't know that she is absolutely beautiful. Natural beauty and beauty made it difficult for her to bury herself in the world, and it didn't take long for her to become a concubine around Tang Minghuang.
When she looked back and smiled, she was full of charm and charm. The concubines of the six officials are all eclipsed. When the spring was chilly, the emperor gave her a bath in Huaqing Pool, and the warm spring water washed her skin. Maid to help her, such as water lotus weak graceful demeanour, which began to get the favor of the emperor.
The hair is like clouds, the face is like flowers, and the head is wearing a golden step. Warm lotus account, and the emperor * * * degrees spring night. Love only hate spring night short, sleep until the sun rises high. The king was deeply in love with his children's tender hometown, and never went to court again. I'm too busy to bear the pleasure of serving you. Traveling with the emperor in spring and sleeping at night.
There are no fewer than 3, concubines in the harem, but only she enjoys the favor of the emperor. Dress up in the golden house and spoil the king every night; Let's have a feast on the jade upstairs, and the drunkenness will add a little charm. Brothers and sisters are all honored by her, and the lintel of Yang's family is radiant and enviable. Therefore, parents all over the world have changed their minds and become patriarchal.
The Yuyu Qionglou in Huaqing Palace on Mount Li soars into the sky, and the breeze wafts in all directions when passing through Yue Xian. Singing and dancing are more in tune, and the orchestral melody is vivid. The king watches it all day, but he never tires of watching it. The drums of Yuyang Rebellion were deafening, and colorful plumage stopped playing in the palace. The Jiuchong Palace was suddenly dusty, and the king fled to the southwest with a large number of ministers, workers and beauties as soon as possible.
The motorcade stopped and went, and it was only a hundred miles from Yanqiumen to Chang 'an. The Sixth Army stagnated and demanded the death of Yang Yuhuan. The king had no choice but to kill Yang Yuhuan under Mawei Slope. The ornaments on the imperial concubine's head were scattered all over the floor. And a green and white jade hair-tassel and a yellowgold hair-bird, precious headdresses are one by one. The king tried to save him, but he hid his face and wept. Looking back at the scene of the tragic death of the imperial concubine, his blood and tears could not stop flowing.
The autumn wind swept away the fallen leaves, and the loess dust had disappeared, and the motorcade wound its way through the plank road and set foot on the Jiange Ancient Road. There are few pedestrians under Mount Emei, with colorless flags and no light in the sun and moon. The beautiful scenery in Shu attracted the king's love. Looking at the moon in the palace is full of sadness, and listening to music on rainy nights is sad. After the rebellion subsided, the king returned to Chang 'an, passing by Mawei Slope, thinking about things and people, and hesitated.
Under the steep slope of Mawei, in the desolate yellow grave, the beauty's face is no longer seen, only the graves lie in the mountains. The monarch and the minister looked after each other, and their clothes were wet with tears. Dongwangjing was sad and believed that the horse would return to the court by reins. When I came back, I saw that the pond garden was still there, and the hibiscus beside the Taiye pond was still there, and the weeping willows in Weiyang Palace had not changed. Furong looks like Yuhuan's face, and Liu Yeer looks like her eyebrows. How can this scene not be sad?
when the spring breeze blows open the peach and plum blossoms, things are unbearable; The autumn rain dripped on the plane leaves, and the scene was even more miserable. Xingqing Palace and Ganlu Hall are depressed everywhere, and the autumn grass grows. The fallen leaves in the palace are all over the steps, and no one has swept them for a long time. The actor's head is white, and the beauty of the maid-in-waiting has faded. At night, fireflies fly in the palace, and it is still difficult for the king to sleep when the lamp is exhausted.
counting the delayed bells and drums, the more you count, the longer the night becomes. Look at the starry sky until the dawn in the east. Who sleeps with the king in the cold jade quilt? Yin and Yang have been separated for a year. Why have you never been in my dream? Taoist priest Linqiong is living in Chang 'an. It is said that he can attract the soul of the imperial concubine by magic.
He was moved by the feeling that the king missed the imperial concubine. He accepted the emperor's orders, did not dare to neglect, searched diligently, and guarded against the wind on all sides. Ride the clouds into the air, go straight like lightning, ascend to heaven and search for heaven and earth, all without result. I suddenly heard that there is a fairy mountain surrounded by white clouds on the sea. Exquisite buildings and pavilions are supported by colorful auspicious clouds. There are countless fairy goddesses, all of whom are graceful.
One of the characters is too real, and her skin looks like snow and flowers, which seems to be Yang Guifei that the king is looking for. The Taoist priest came to the west of Jinque, knocked on the courtyard gate carved with jade and called softly, asking Xiaoyu to call the maid Shuangcheng to report. It's true to hear that the king's angel has arrived and woke up from his tent. Put on your clothes, push away the pillow and go out to sleep. Open the screen one by one and put down the bead curtain.
I just woke up with my hair in a cloud, and I came down from the altar before dressing, wearing a wreath askew. The gentle fairy wind blows the sleeves and flutters slightly, just like the dance of a dress and a feather. Lonely and sad, the tears on your face are always flowing, like pear flowers with rain in spring. Gazing at the Emperor's envoy with affection, he thanked the king deeply. After seeing each other on Mawei Slope, I heard nothing from her.
The marriage in Zhaoyang Temple has long been cut off, and the loneliness in Penglai Palace is still a long time. Looking back at the world, Chang 'an has disappeared, leaving only dust and fog. I can only express my deep affection with the keepsake of that year, and you can take the box of gold hairpin to the king as a souvenir. The gold hairpin leaves one share, the cymbal box leaves half, the gold hairpin splits the gold, and the cymbal box divides the precious cymbal.
I hope our loving hearts are as faithful and hard as Huang Jinbao's, and there will always be a chance for us to meet again. When I left, I kindly asked the alchemist to send a message to the king, saying that only the king and I knew the oath. When on the seventh day of the Seventh-month, in the Palace of Long Life was empty in the middle of the night, we * * * made a pledge of eternal love.
In the sky, I wish to be a bird of fly with me, and in the earth, I wish to grow branches together. Even if it lasts forever, there will always be an end, but this life and death resentment will never end.
literary appreciation:
The first part of this poem satirizes and criticizes the dissoluteness of Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei's favor and arrogance, such as "china's Emperor, craving beauty that might shake an empire", "but nights of spring were short and the sun arose too soon, and the Emperor, from that time forth, forsook his early hearings", "she brought to every father, every mother through the empire, happiness when a girl was born rather than a boy" and "till war-drums, booming from Yuyang, shocked the whole earth's shocking colorful plumage", which obviously expresses dissatisfaction and condemnation to Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei.
From "the men of the army stopped, not one of them would stir, till under their horses' hoofs they might trample those moth-eyebrows" to "the Emperor could not save her, he could only cover his face, and later when he turned to look, the place of blood and tears", Yang Guifei died of strangulation, which became a famous incident in history. The poet's theme of this poem is self-contradictory, which is both slightly ironic and particularly pitiful. This is because the poet himself is attached to the ruling class, and his class position and world outlook decide that he has to write like this.
Irony is to hate him for not following the routine of the ruling class, while pity is to imagine with the poet's own mood and "polish" it according to the folklore at that time.
from "but as waters of Shu are always green and its mountains always blue, so changeless was His Majesty's love and deeper than the days, he stared at the desolate moon from his temporary palace, he heard bell-notes in the evening rain, cutting at his breast" to "with the distance between life and death year after year, and yet no beloved spirit ever visited his dreams", they are trying their best to describe Xuanzong's lovesickness, and the poet is full of sympathy in depicting it, but it seems that what is in front of the poet is not the object of irony.
especially "the pools, the gardens, the palace, all were just as before, the Lake Taiye hibiscus, the Weiyang Palace willows; But a petal was like her face and a willow-leaf her eyebrow, and what could he do but cry whenever he looked at them?. ..... over the throne flew fire-flies, while he brooded in the twilight., he would lengthen the lamp-wick to its end and still could never sleep.. Bell and drum would slowly toll the dragging nighthours, and the River of Stars grow sharp in the sky, just before dawn "those poems describing the yearning of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty for Yang Guifei are intended to whitewash and disguise the rulers who play with women, which makes people feel pity, and thus have some adverse effects. It seems that emperors also have sincere love, and Xuanzong's dissoluteness and lewdness can also be forgiven.
Later, it is written that the alchemist was entrusted by Xuanzong to visit Penglai, and he got the secret words of the two men at that time and reported them to the emperor. Originally, the plot of this story was hard to win people's trust, but he wrote it so vividly. "on the seventh day of the Seventh-month, in the Palace of Long Life, we told each other secretly in the quiet midnight world" is to beautify the soul of feudal emperors with the story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, in order to win people's sympathy.
when the imperial concubine heard that there was an envoy from Xuanzong on Xiandao, her modality was: "and the lady, at news of an envoy from the Emperor of China, was startled out of dreams in her nine-flowered, canopy. She pushed aside her pillow, dressed, shook away sleep, and opened the pearly shade and then the silver screen. Yunji is half new to sleep, and her flower-cap was loose when she came along the terrace. The wind blows the fairy and lifts it. As though she danced The Rainbow Skirt and the Feathered Coat, and the tear-drops drifting down her sad white face, were like a rain in spring on the blossom of the pear ... Poets depict touching female images, and at the same time show the lonely mood of the heroine after losing comfort in the so-called fairy mountain.
Finally, I used "earth endures, heaven endures; some time both shall end, while this unending sorrow goes on and on for ever" to express my condolences, which explained the position of the author's feudal scholar-officials and expressed some sympathy for the emperor's "tragedy".
However, the artistry of this poem has its merits. It is not only flowery in words, but also vivid in momentum. The brushwork is full of emotion, and there are layers of waves rising from the twists and turns of the story without any feeling of exhaustion. There are very few allusions. Except for two ready-made names in the sentence "and asked a girl, called Morsel-of-Jade, to tell The Doubly- Perfect", there is no "out of the book bag" at all, which is also very rare.
This kind of singing style has given poets after the middle Tang Dynasty considerable appeal. With many imitations, we have to admit that it has a certain prominent position in the history of poetry. Although there are ideological problems, it has a bad influence on future generations.