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Song of Lady Gongsun's Disciple Dancing the Sword Weapon
English Poetic Translation
Once lived a beauty of the Gongsun line,
Whose sword-dance swept the empire like a gale.
As mountains thronged the stunned and breathless stage,
The very cosmos bowed and rose in pale
Awe before her. Bright as archer Yi
Who shot down nine blazing suns from the sky,
Or lords who ride twin dragons soaring high!
Now gathering thunder rolls its wrath away,
Now quiet seas condense the crystal day.
Her crimson lips and pearl-decked sleeves are still,
Yet pupils walk her path and guard her skill.
That maiden from Linying now far away
At Baidi town performs the ancient lay,
Her spirit soaring as she starts to play.
We spoke of old, and as we shared our mind,
My grief grew heavier for the years behind.
Eight thousand maidens filled the palace hall,
Yet in sword-art she was first among them all.
Then fifty years flipped over like a hand:
Dark tempests broke and desolated the land.
The Pear Garden musicians drifted away like smoke,
Cold winter sunlight touched the aging troupe's cloak.
South of the imperial mounds the pines are tall,
And Qutang's fortress sees the grasses fall.
The banquet flute accelerates its strain;
Joy turns to sorrow as the moon climbs plain.
An aged wanderer on these stony heights,
With calloused feet through desolate, wild nights.
Whose sword-dance swept the empire like a gale.
As mountains thronged the stunned and breathless stage,
The very cosmos bowed and rose in pale
Awe before her. Bright as archer Yi
Who shot down nine blazing suns from the sky,
Or lords who ride twin dragons soaring high!
Now gathering thunder rolls its wrath away,
Now quiet seas condense the crystal day.
Her crimson lips and pearl-decked sleeves are still,
Yet pupils walk her path and guard her skill.
That maiden from Linying now far away
At Baidi town performs the ancient lay,
Her spirit soaring as she starts to play.
We spoke of old, and as we shared our mind,
My grief grew heavier for the years behind.
Eight thousand maidens filled the palace hall,
Yet in sword-art she was first among them all.
Then fifty years flipped over like a hand:
Dark tempests broke and desolated the land.
The Pear Garden musicians drifted away like smoke,
Cold winter sunlight touched the aging troupe's cloak.
South of the imperial mounds the pines are tall,
And Qutang's fortress sees the grasses fall.
The banquet flute accelerates its strain;
Joy turns to sorrow as the moon climbs plain.
An aged wanderer on these stony heights,
With calloused feet through desolate, wild nights.
Classical Chinese & Pinyin
昔有佳人公孫氏，一舞劒氣動四方。
觀者如山色沮喪，天地爲之久低昂。
㸌如羿射九日落，矯如羣帝驂龍翔。
來如雷霆收震怒，罷如江海凝清光。
絳脣珠袖兩寂莫，況有弟子傳芬芳。
臨潁美人在白帝，妙舞此曲神揚揚。
與餘問答既有以，感時撫事增惋傷。
先帝侍女八千人，公孫劒器初第一。
五十年間似反掌，風塵傾動昏王室。
棃園子弟散如煙，女樂餘姿映寒日。
金粟堆南木已拱，瞿唐石城草蕭瑟。
玳筵急管曲復終，樂極哀來月東出。
老夫不知其所往，足繭荒山轉愁疾。
觀者如山色沮喪，天地爲之久低昂。
㸌如羿射九日落，矯如羣帝驂龍翔。
來如雷霆收震怒，罷如江海凝清光。
絳脣珠袖兩寂莫，況有弟子傳芬芳。
臨潁美人在白帝，妙舞此曲神揚揚。
與餘問答既有以，感時撫事增惋傷。
先帝侍女八千人，公孫劒器初第一。
五十年間似反掌，風塵傾動昏王室。
棃園子弟散如煙，女樂餘姿映寒日。
金粟堆南木已拱，瞿唐石城草蕭瑟。
玳筵急管曲復終，樂極哀來月東出。
老夫不知其所往，足繭荒山轉愁疾。
Philological Direct Translation
Formerly there was a beauty of the Gongsun clan,
whose single dance with sword breath shook the four quarters.
Spectators were like mountains, their complexions dismayed,
Heaven and Earth for her sake long rose and fell.
Flashy like Yi shooting the nine suns down,
swiftly circling like a host of emperors riding dragons in flight.
Coming like thunder and lightning gathering its shaking wrath,
stopping like rivers and seas congealing clear light.
Crimson lips and pearl sleeves both silent and lonely,
how much more so when a disciple passes on the fragrance.
The Linying beauty is now at Baidi,
her wonderful dance to this tune makes the spirit soar high.
Our questions and answers already had their cause,
touched by the times and stroking affairs, grief and injury increase.
The late emperor's palace ladies were eight thousand,
and Gongsun's sword weapon was the very first.
Within fifty years it was like turning the palm,
dust and wind overturned and dimmed the royal house.
Pear Garden disciples scattered like smoke,
the female musicians' remaining graces reflected in the cold sun.
South of Jinmu Mound the trees are already hand-span thick,
at Qutang Stone Fortress the grass is desolate and bleak.
At the tortoise-shell banquet urgent pipes bring the tune to an end again,
joy reaches its extreme and sorrow arrives as the moon emerges in the east.
This old man knows not where he is going,
feet calloused in barren mountains, turning sorrowful and hurried.
whose single dance with sword breath shook the four quarters.
Spectators were like mountains, their complexions dismayed,
Heaven and Earth for her sake long rose and fell.
Flashy like Yi shooting the nine suns down,
swiftly circling like a host of emperors riding dragons in flight.
Coming like thunder and lightning gathering its shaking wrath,
stopping like rivers and seas congealing clear light.
Crimson lips and pearl sleeves both silent and lonely,
how much more so when a disciple passes on the fragrance.
The Linying beauty is now at Baidi,
her wonderful dance to this tune makes the spirit soar high.
Our questions and answers already had their cause,
touched by the times and stroking affairs, grief and injury increase.
The late emperor's palace ladies were eight thousand,
and Gongsun's sword weapon was the very first.
Within fifty years it was like turning the palm,
dust and wind overturned and dimmed the royal house.
Pear Garden disciples scattered like smoke,
the female musicians' remaining graces reflected in the cold sun.
South of Jinmu Mound the trees are already hand-span thick,
at Qutang Stone Fortress the grass is desolate and bleak.
At the tortoise-shell banquet urgent pipes bring the tune to an end again,
joy reaches its extreme and sorrow arrives as the moon emerges in the east.
This old man knows not where he is going,
feet calloused in barren mountains, turning sorrowful and hurried.