Tune: Magnolia III (Yan Shu)
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
绿杨芳草长亭路，年少抛人容易去。楼头残梦五更钟，花底离愁三月雨。
English translation
Green willows and fragrant grass line the road by the parting pavilion. In youth, leaving someone can seem all too easy. A fifth-watch bell breaks the last fragment of a dream above the tower; beneath the blossoms, separation falls like March rain.
Original Chinese text
无情不似多情苦，一寸还成千万缕。天涯地角有穷时，只有相思无尽处。
English translation
The unfeeling do not suffer as the deeply attached do. A single inch of feeling can unravel into ten thousand threads. The ends of earth and sea have limits; longing alone has no boundary.
词句注释 · Notes
上片 · First stanza
上片以长亭路标出送别场景，再由“年少”回看当初轻率离去。五更钟、残梦与三月雨把离愁写成清晨醒来仍未散去的感受。
The parting pavilion establishes a farewell scene, while “in youth” looks back on a departure once made lightly. The dawn bell, broken dream, and March rain make sorrow linger into waking.
下片 · Second stanza
下片用“一寸”与“千万缕”形成强烈反差，把相思写成不断滋生的情绪。末两句以有尽的空间对照无尽的思念，是全词的警句式收束。
The contrast between one small inch and ten thousand strands makes longing seem to multiply without end. The closing couplet sets bounded geography against unbounded remembrance.