Tune: Curved Jade Pipe (Liu Yong)
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
陇首云飞，江边日晚，烟波满目凭阑久。一望关河萧索，千里清秋，忍凝眸。杳杳神京，盈盈仙子，别来锦字终难偶。断雁无凭，冉冉飞下汀洲，思悠悠。
English translation
Clouds move over the Long range; evening falls beside the river. The speaker leans at the rail for a long time, with misty water filling the view. The passes and waterways look desolate across a thousand miles of clear autumn; how can the gaze remain there? The capital lies far away, as does the beloved; since their parting, no letter has arrived. A lone goose offers no reliable message as it slowly descends toward the sandbar, and thought continues without end.
Original Chinese text
暗想当初，有多少、幽欢佳会；岂知聚散难期，翻成雨恨云愁。阻追游，每登山临水，惹起平生心事，一场消黯，永日无言，却下层楼。
English translation
Inwardly the speaker recalls how many intimate joys and happy meetings there once were. Who could have known that meeting and parting would be so uncertain, turning into clouds of grief and rain-like regret? Reunion and shared outings are blocked; every climb or waterside visit stirs old concerns. The speaker falls into silence for the whole day, then can only descend the tower.
词句注释 · Notes
上片 · First stanza
上片从陇山、江边暮色和关河秋景写起，再转到遥远的京城、所思之人和迟迟不来的书信。“断雁无凭”借孤雁写音信无着，并非把它当作实际信使。
The stanza begins with mountain, river, and autumn distance, then turns to the faraway capital, the absent beloved, and a letter that never arrives. The lone goose represents unreliable news; it is not presented as a literal messenger.
下片 · Second stanza
下片由回忆欢会转为聚散无常。“雨恨云愁”写愁情层叠；登山临水本是游赏之事，此时却不断触发旧日心事。末句下楼不是解脱，而是无言愁思中的动作收尾。
The stanza turns from remembered happiness to the uncertainty of meeting and separation. “Clouds of grief and rain-like regret” intensify the sorrow. Climbing hills and visiting waters, once occasions for pleasure, now awaken old memories; descending the tower closes the scene without resolving them.