Tune: Phoenix Flute (Han Zhen)

Contents

Text

English translation

Original Chinese text

English translation

Parting sorrow stretches without an edge. When the traveler first departed, the roadside had only begun to grow fragrant. In the embroidered chamber, someone longing for the absent one shed quiet tears while seeing the carriage off. The farther the traveler goes, the longer the figure stays before the mind; layers of water and a lone cloud lie between. From a high tower the gaze reaches its limit, waiting all day for the absent beloved.

Original Chinese text

English translation

The parting is heartbreaking. Since the day by the pond, even the green grass seems to envy the light skirt that once passed there. The speaker remembers holding a pale hand and walking slowly across fragrant ground among scattered blossoms and willow fluff. The face changes in vain, while spring renews itself year after year. Roam the green fields, delight in their beauty, and do not waste youth.

词句注释 · Notes

上片 · First stanza

上片写送别之后的长久眺望。“初熏”点出春草初生,“征轮”代指出行车马;“王孙”在古典诗词中常指远行或所思之人,这里不必据此断定具体身份。

This stanza follows the farewell into prolonged watching. “New fragrance” suggests newly grown spring grass, and “travel wheels” stand for the departing carriage. “Wangsun” is a conventional term for an absent or remembered person; it does not establish a specific identity here.

下片 · Second stanza

下片从别后旧地引出共同游春的回忆,再以“朱颜”与年年常新的春意对照。末尾转为珍惜青春的劝语;它与前面的离愁并置,显出既知韶光易逝又不愿徒然辜负的心情。

The stanza returns to the place of parting and recalls walking together in spring. “The face changes” contrasts with spring’s annual renewal. The closing advice to value youth sits beside the earlier grief: time passes, but one need not waste what remains.

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