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Music at Midnight: Frozen Clouds Grow Dim
English Poetic Translation
Frozen clouds obscure the dreary sky,
a single leaf of boat set free
upon the river's swelling breast.
Through myriad gorges, cliffs piled high,
we slip past where the waters rest.
The raging waves begin to sink,
a sudden breeze stirs through the trees,
and merchants call along the brink.
A lone sail climbs the lucent blue;
a painted barge skims past the southern view.
Across the mist, wine banners gleam,
a hazy hamlet, rows of frost-touched wood.
As evening claims the slanting beam,
the fishermen beat out their homeward mood.
Decaying lotus stems lie bare,
and withered willows fringe the shore,
where village girls with laughing air
shy from the traveler's passing gaze,
then whisper, blushing in the autumn haze.
At this, the heart recalls the past:
a silken chamber left behind,
like duckweed drifting on the blast.
Those tender vows cast to the wind,
what truth remains when joy is gone?
A bitter grief of parting days,
and winter blocking paths of dawn.
Through tear-blind eyes I search in vain:
the capital dissolved in mist and rain,
while distant geese cry out across the fading plain.
a single leaf of boat set free
upon the river's swelling breast.
Through myriad gorges, cliffs piled high,
we slip past where the waters rest.
The raging waves begin to sink,
a sudden breeze stirs through the trees,
and merchants call along the brink.
A lone sail climbs the lucent blue;
a painted barge skims past the southern view.
Across the mist, wine banners gleam,
a hazy hamlet, rows of frost-touched wood.
As evening claims the slanting beam,
the fishermen beat out their homeward mood.
Decaying lotus stems lie bare,
and withered willows fringe the shore,
where village girls with laughing air
shy from the traveler's passing gaze,
then whisper, blushing in the autumn haze.
At this, the heart recalls the past:
a silken chamber left behind,
like duckweed drifting on the blast.
Those tender vows cast to the wind,
what truth remains when joy is gone?
A bitter grief of parting days,
and winter blocking paths of dawn.
Through tear-blind eyes I search in vain:
the capital dissolved in mist and rain,
while distant geese cry out across the fading plain.
Classical Chinese & Pinyin
凍雲黯淡天氣，扁舟一葉，乘興離江渚。
渡萬壑千巖，越溪深處。
怒濤漸息，樵風乍起，更聞商旅相呼。
片帆高舉。
泛畫鷁、翩翩過南浦。
望中酒旆閃閃，一簇煙村，數行霜樹。
殘日下，漁人鳴榔歸去。
敗荷零落，衰楊掩映，岸邊兩兩三三，浣沙遊女。
避行客、含羞笑相語。
到此因念，繡閣輕拋，浪萍難駐。
嘆後約丁寧竟何據。
慘離懷，空恨歲晚歸期阻。
凝淚眼、杳杳神京路。
斷鴻聲遠長天暮。
渡萬壑千巖，越溪深處。
怒濤漸息，樵風乍起，更聞商旅相呼。
片帆高舉。
泛畫鷁、翩翩過南浦。
望中酒旆閃閃，一簇煙村，數行霜樹。
殘日下，漁人鳴榔歸去。
敗荷零落，衰楊掩映，岸邊兩兩三三，浣沙遊女。
避行客、含羞笑相語。
到此因念，繡閣輕拋，浪萍難駐。
嘆後約丁寧竟何據。
慘離懷，空恨歲晚歸期阻。
凝淚眼、杳杳神京路。
斷鴻聲遠長天暮。
Philological Direct Translation
Frozen clouds grow dim the weather,
A solitary flat boat in a single leaf,
Following inclination, leaving the river islet.
Crossing ten thousand ravines and a thousand cliffs,
Traversing the stream's profound depths.
Angry billows gradually subside,
A woodcutter's wind suddenly rises,
Further hearing merchants calling to each other.
A single sail is raised high.
Floating on a painted swift-bird boat, fluttering past the southern shore.
Amid the gazing, wine flags flicker and gleam,
A cluster of misty villages,
Several rows of frosty trees.
Under the declining sun,
Fishermen beating oars go back home.
Withered lotuses fall and scatter,
Decaying poplars shade and reflect,
Along the bank, in twos and threes,
Laundering girls at play.
Avoiding travelers, hiding, smiling, speaking to each other.
Arriving here, therefore remembering,
The embroidered chamber lightly cast aside,
Like duckweed on waves, difficult to stay.
Sighing over later trysts and earnest injunctions, what basis remains?
Desolate parting sorrow,
Vainly regretting the late year's return date hindered.
Straining tearful eyes,
Dim and distant, the road to the capital of the gods.
Broken swan geese sound distant in the vast evening sky.
A solitary flat boat in a single leaf,
Following inclination, leaving the river islet.
Crossing ten thousand ravines and a thousand cliffs,
Traversing the stream's profound depths.
Angry billows gradually subside,
A woodcutter's wind suddenly rises,
Further hearing merchants calling to each other.
A single sail is raised high.
Floating on a painted swift-bird boat, fluttering past the southern shore.
Amid the gazing, wine flags flicker and gleam,
A cluster of misty villages,
Several rows of frosty trees.
Under the declining sun,
Fishermen beating oars go back home.
Withered lotuses fall and scatter,
Decaying poplars shade and reflect,
Along the bank, in twos and threes,
Laundering girls at play.
Avoiding travelers, hiding, smiling, speaking to each other.
Arriving here, therefore remembering,
The embroidered chamber lightly cast aside,
Like duckweed on waves, difficult to stay.
Sighing over later trysts and earnest injunctions, what basis remains?
Desolate parting sorrow,
Vainly regretting the late year's return date hindered.
Straining tearful eyes,
Dim and distant, the road to the capital of the gods.
Broken swan geese sound distant in the vast evening sky.