Tune: Treading on Grass (Ouyang Xiu)
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
候馆梅残，溪桥柳细，草薰风暖摇征辔。离愁渐远渐无穷，迢迢不断如春水。
English translation
The plum blossoms by the travelers’ lodge have faded, and slender willows line the stream bridge. Fragrant grass and warm wind stir the traveler’s reins. As the distance grows, parting sorrow seems to grow without limit, flowing on and on like spring water.
Original Chinese text
寸寸柔肠，盈盈粉泪，楼高莫近危阑倚。平芜尽处是春山，行人更在春山外。
English translation
Tender feelings twist within, and tears fill the eyes. Do not go near the high railing to gaze into the distance. At the end of the level fields stand spring hills, and the traveler lies beyond even those hills.
词句注释 · Notes
上片 · First stanza
上片把旅途中的梅残、柳细、草香和暖风连在一起。“离愁渐远渐无穷”写距离增加未能冲淡离情，反而使思念绵延；春水是贯穿全片的比喻。
Faded plum, slender willow, fragrant grass, and warm wind form a travel scene. Greater distance does not lessen sorrow; it seems to extend it, like the spring water that gives the stanza its central image.
下片 · Second stanza
下片把远行者与送别者的视线分开：楼上人望到春山，仍看不到山外行人。“莫近危阑倚”像是劝阻，也显出远望只会加深牵挂。
The stanza separates traveler and watcher: the person at the tower can see the spring hills, but not the one beyond them. “Do not lean at the railing” sounds like advice born from knowing that looking farther only deepens longing.