Poems fro Robert Burns’ Night and Chinese poetry with translations

A Red, Red Rose                   Robert Burns

我的爱人像朵红红的玫瑰     (王佐良  译)

O, my Luve’s like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June.
O, my Luve’s like a melodie
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.

呵,我的爱人像朵红红的玫瑰
六月里迎风初开;
呵,我的爱人像支甜甜的曲子,
奏得合拍又和谐。

As fair as thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.

我的好姑娘,多么美丽的人儿!
请看我,多么深挚的爱情!
亲爱的,我永远爱你,
纵使大海干涸水流尽。

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun:
I will love thess till, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run:

纵使大海干涸水流尽,
太阳将岩石烧作灰尘,
亲爱的,我永远爱你,
只要我一息犹存。

And fare thee well, my only luve!
And fare thee weel, a while!
And I will come again, my luve,
Tho’ it ware ten thousand mile.

珍重吧,我唯一的爱人,
珍重吧,让我们暂时别离,
但我定要回来,
哪怕千里万里!

 

李清照聲聲慢
LI Qingzhao – Lyrics to the Adagio of Resonance

尋尋覓覓,冷冷清清,
淒淒慘慘戚戚。
乍暖還寒時候,
最難將息。
三杯兩盞淡酒,
怎敵他、晚來風急?
雁過也,正傷心,
卻是舊時相識。

滿地黃花堆積。
憔悴損、如今有誰堪摘?
守著窗兒,
獨自怎生得黑?
梧桐更兼細雨,
到黃昏、點點滴滴。
這次第,怎一個、愁字了得!

Li Qingzhao (Chinese: 李清照 1084 – ca 1155), pseudonym Yi’an Jushi (易安居士), was a Chinese writer and poet in the Song dynasty  She is considered as one of the greatest woman poets in Chinese history.

Translated by 林语堂:

So dim, so dark,

So dense, so dull,

So damp, so dank,

So dead!

The weather, now warm, now cold,

Makes it harder

Than ever to forget!
How can a few cups of thin wine

Bring warmth against

The chilly winds of sunset?
I recognize the geese flying overhead:

My old friends,

Bring not the old memories back!
Let fallen flowers lie where they fall

To what purpose

And for whom should I decorate?
By the window shut,

Guarding it alone,

To see the sky has turned so black!
And the drizzle on the kola nut.

Keeps on droning:

Pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat!
Is this the kind of mood and moment.

To be expressed

By one word “sad”?

 

 

郭沫若《天上的街市》

远远的街灯明了,

好象闪着无数的明星。

天上的明星现了,

好象点着无数的街灯。

 

我想那缥缈的空中,

定然有美丽的街市。

街市上陈列的一些物品,

定然是世上没有的珍奇。

 

你看,那浅浅的天河,

定然是不甚宽广。

我想那隔河的牛郎织女,

定能够骑着牛儿来往。

 

我想他们此刻,

定然在天街闲游。

不信,请看那朵流星,

那是他们提着灯笼在走.

 

The Street Market in the Sky

Guo Moruo

Faraway street lights light up

just like countless sparkling stars.

From the sky stars come into sight,

as if a myriad of street lights.

 

I think in the ethereal sky,

there must be a beautiful street market.

Items on display in the market

certainly are treasures not found here.

 

Look! The shallow Milky Way

must not be very wide;

the Cowhand and the Weaver Girl

surely can ride cows to meet.

 

I think they, at this moment,

are strolling along the sky streets.

Don’t believe me? See that shooting star!

It is the lantern they are holding

while walking around.

 

 

 

徐志摩的《偶然》:

我是天空里的一片云,

偶尔投影在你的波心——

你不必讶异,

更无须欢喜——

在转瞬间消灭了踪影。

你我相逢在黑夜的海上,

你有你的,我有我的,方向;

你记得也好,

最好你忘掉,

在这交会时互放的光亮!

 

For Li Qing Zhao
by Anna Yin

I cup your shadow
with blue fire;
across the ocean,
the wind tastes more salty.

The white is whiter,
and whiter…
the cold is colder,
and colder…
In the early autumn,
I fail to explain to those
who read your poems in accents.

They chase me with questions―
how we Chinese women,
footsteps no sound,
hairbun so high,
shy away from strangers.

Well, clouds are overhead.
I catch ink drops
on my skin―
a trace of moon.

 

笑的种子(李广田)

把一粒笑的种子
深深地种在心底,
纵是块忧郁的土地,
也滋长了这一粒种子。

笑的种子发了芽,
笑的种子又开了花,
花开在颤着的树叶里,
也开在路旁的浅草里。

尖塔的十字架上
开着笑的花,
飘在天空的白云里
也开着笑的花。

播种者现在何所呢,
那个流浪的小孩子?
永记得你那偶然的笑,
虽然不知道你的名字。

Smile Seed by Li Guang Tian

Someone brings a smile seed,
plants it deeply in my heart.
Even though it’s a sad land,
it still grows this smile seed.
 
The smile seed sprouts.
The smile seed blooms
among the trembling leaves,
also in grasses by roadsides.
 
On the cross at the steeple
there are smiling flowers.
Amid white clouds in the sky
there are smiling flowers as well.
 
Where is the sower now,
that wandering child?
I have forever remembered your smile,
though I don’t know what your name is.