Gathering Lotus (Liu Yong)
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
月华收，云淡霜天曙。西征客、此时情苦。翠娥执手，送临歧、轧轧开朱户。千娇面、盈盈伫立，无言有泪，断肠争忍回顾？
English translation
The moonlight fades; thin clouds cross a frosted sky at dawn. The traveler setting out west is heartsick. His beloved clasps his hand and walks him to the parting way; the red gate creaks open. She stands there, graceful and radiant, silent tears falling. How could he bear to turn back for one last look?
Original Chinese text
一叶兰舟，便恁急桨凌波去。贪行色、岂知离绪，万般方寸，但饮恨、脉脉同谁语？更回首、重城不见，寒江天外，隐隐两三烟树。
English translation
The small boat sweeps away over the water with hurried strokes. Intent on the journey, the traveler seems not to know the tangle of grief within. He can only swallow it in silence—who is there to hear? Looking back once more, he can no longer see the city walls. The cold river runs toward the sky, where two or three trees fade into haze.
词句注释 · Notes
上片 · First stanza
上片写破晓送别。“轧轧开朱户”让离别从门内延伸到门外；女子无言有泪，行人不敢回顾，双方都被压住的话语比直说悲伤更沉重。
The stanza stages a farewell at daybreak. The creaking red gate carries the separation from inside the home to the road. Her silent tears and his inability to look back make the unsaid grief more powerful than an explanation.
下片 · Second stanza
下片从舟行写到回望：人物离城越来越远，景物也由重城缩成烟树。“贪行色”可读作行人急于启程，也带着旁观者对他不知离绪的怨意。
The stanza follows the boat away and then looks back: the traveler recedes, and the city contracts into a few hazy trees. “Intent on the journey” suggests haste, but may also carry the speaker’s reproach that the traveler seems unaware of the grief left behind.