Slow Tune: Waves Sifting Sand (Liu Yong)

Contents

Text

English translation

Original Chinese text

English translation

Awakening from a dream, I feel a thin thread of wind through the window; it blows out the cold lamp. As if waking sober were not enough, night rain keeps tapping on the empty steps. I have delayed too long and become a wanderer at the edge of the world. I have failed the woman I love and the vows we made—how could our former joy so suddenly turn to grief?

Original Chinese text

English translation

At the height of sorrow, I return again and again to memories: in the inner chamber, after wine and song had ended, we lay close beneath warm embroidered covers. Even a brief separation cost her so much; we had cherished one another through every tenderness. Now the night is long and the water-clock drags on, while I remain inexplicably far away. When may I hold her close again? I long to lower the curtains, lean beside her pillow, and softly tell her how each night in this river country I counted the cold watches and thought of her.

词句注释 · Notes

上片 · First stanza

上片把醒来后的风、灭灯和夜雨叠在一起,写孤寂的现实。词人由眼前景转入自责:长期漂泊、辜负盟言,使旧日欢会忽然变成忧戚。

The stanza layers wind, an extinguished lamp, and night rain to create the speaker’s isolation after waking. He then turns from the scene to self-reproach: prolonged wandering and broken promises have changed past joy into grief.

下片 · Second stanza

下片以往昔温存反衬眼下隔绝。“秦云”借云雨典故写亲密相会,不宜当作实景;结尾转为愿望,希望重逢后把漂泊中的思念细细说出。

The stanza sets former intimacy against present separation. “Qin clouds” alludes to the classical cloud-and-rain image for lovers’ union, rather than describing literal weather. The ending becomes a wish to explain, after reunion, the longing accumulated during exile.

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