Tune: Waves Sifting Sand (Ouyang Xiu)
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
把酒祝东风，且共从容。垂杨紫陌洛城东，总是当时携手处，游遍芳丛。
English translation
Raising a cup, I toast the east wind: let us linger together, unhurried. East of Luoyang, beside the purple road and drooping willows, every place recalls where we once walked hand in hand through the flowers.
Original Chinese text
聚散苦匆匆，此恨无穷。今年花胜去年红，可惜明年花更好，知与谁同？
English translation
Meeting and parting pass painfully fast, leaving an endless regret. This year’s flowers are redder than last year’s; next year’s may be finer still. But who will be here to share them then?
词句注释 · Notes
上片 · First stanza
“紫陌”指京城郊野的道路，这里落在洛阳城东。上片由举杯留春转入旧地重游；“携手”写共同游赏，词中不必进一步推断关系身份。
“Purple road” refers to a country road near the capital, here east of Luoyang. The stanza moves from a toast to spring into a return to familiar places; walking hand in hand need not be assigned a more specific relationship.
下片 · Second stanza
下片把花色一年胜过一年与人事难以长久并置。末句不是对未来作出确定预言，而是借“知与谁同”表达对相聚无法保证的忧虑。
The stanza sets flowers that improve year after year against human meetings that may not last. The final question does not predict the future; it voices anxiety that companionship cannot be counted on.