怨王孙.梦断漏悄
原作：李清照（？）
英译：闵晓红
梦断漏悄，
愁浓酒恼。
宝枕生寒，
翠屏向晓。
门外谁扫残红？
夜来风。
玉箫声断人何处？
春又去，
忍把归期负。
此情此恨此际，
拟托行云，
问东君。
The dripping clock stopped, ending my dream
- to the tune of Yuanwangsun
written by: Li Qingzhao ( 1084 – 1155?)
translated by Julia Min
The dripping clock stopped, ending my dream.
My jade pillow feels cold, me alone, waking
to an early dawn, heart like a frozen stream.
Still tipsy from night wine, I asked my girl:
“The fallen blossoms, who’s been sweeping?”
The answer’s plain: “My lady, just the wind.”
The flute player is gone and so has the melody
which is so missed, and where could he be?
Another spring is leaving, his return not seen.
This yearning, this waste, this withering scene,
why do they come together at the end of spring?
Could the roaming clouds ask East God for me?
Appreciation:
The subject, the objects chosen and the elegant eloquence strongly suggest this ci a creation on boudoir sentiments by Li Qingzhao in her twenties, most likely written during / after their happy years in Qingzhou when her husband Zhao Mingcheng was summoned to a new post by the emperor, around 1107. The couple was apart for a longer period of time. This period’s sentiment is also seen in her other poems, e.g. “Spring Finds also a Lady’s Seclusion with Returning Green - to the tune of Xiaochongshan”, “Last Night Fierce Gusts of Autumn Rain - to the Tune of Rumengling”,…
Notes:
1. ‘dripping clock’: a water clock used in ancient China;
2. ‘jade pillow’: popular in China since BC until modern times; Cheaper ones would be made of ceramics, wood, stones, and bamboos; It was believed to benefit a cool brain, also helps keeping the long hairdo, and a big package of benefits as shown in Chinese medicine.
3. ‘the flute player’: referring to a love story in the book Stories of Celestial Beings 《列仙传》；
4. ‘East God’: Spring God; Chinese associate the seasons with the actual direction of wind, so spring with east wind, summer with south……
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