10. Tune: Green Gate (Zhang Xian)
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
乍暖还轻冷，风雨晚来方定。庭轩寂寞近清明，残花中酒，又是去年病。
English translation
The weather has only just warmed, and a slight chill returns. The evening wind and rain settle only late. With Qingming near, the courtyard and veranda feel desolate; fading blossoms and wine revive the same sorrowful illness the speaker knew last year.
Original Chinese text
楼头画角风吹醒，入夜重门静。那堪更被明月，隔墙送过秋千影。
English translation
A horn sounds from the tower, and the wind rouses the speaker from reverie. Night falls, and the layered gates grow still. How can the heart bear the moonlight casting, over the wall, the moving shadow of a swing?
词句注释 · Notes
上片 · First stanza
开篇写乍暖还寒，时间落在清明前后。庭院的寂寞并非孤立景物，“残花”“中酒”又牵出去年病中的记忆，使眼前季节与旧日愁绪叠在一起。
The opening sets the poem around Qingming, when warmth and chill alternate. The empty courtyard is joined by fading flowers and wine, which bring back last year’s illness and sorrow, layering memory over the present season.
下片 · Second stanza
下片用画角声打破沉思，继而转入夜深门静。月光把墙外秋千的影子送进视线，欢乐活动只以影子出现，反衬庭院中的孤寂；全词没有直说愁因，情绪由景物触发。
A horn interrupts the reverie before the poem settles into night’s silence. Moonlight carries only the swing’s shadow over the wall; the lively scene remains outside, sharpening the speaker’s solitude. The cause of sorrow is left unstated and emerges through these images.