Jade Butterfly (Liu Yong)
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
望处雨收云断，凭阑悄悄，目送秋光。晚景萧疏，堪动宋玉悲凉。水风轻、蘋花渐老；月露冷、梧叶飘黄。遣情伤。故人何在？烟水茫茫。
English translation
The rain has ceased where I look, and the clouds have parted. I stand quietly at the rail, watching autumn light fade. The sparse evening scene could awaken the sorrow of Song Yu. A light wind passes over the water; the water plants grow old. Moonlit dew turns cold, and yellow leaves fall from the parasol tree. Nothing eases my sadness. Where is my old friend? Only misty water stretches on.
Original Chinese text
难忘。文期酒会，几孤风月，屡变星霜。海阔山遥，未知何处是潇湘？念双燕、难凭音信；指暮天、空识归航。黯相望，断鸿声里，立尽斜阳。
English translation
I cannot forget. We once planned to share poems and wine, yet missed the moonlit meetings again and again as seasons turned and years passed. Mountains and seas divide us; I do not know where you are now. Even paired swallows cannot be trusted with a message. I point toward the evening sky and can only make out boats returning, never knowing which one might bring you. In silence I keep looking, until the sun has set, while a lone goose cries overhead.
词句注释 · Notes
上片 · First stanza
上片从雨收云散写到秋光将尽，借宋玉悲秋传统点明情绪。蘋花老、梧叶黄不是静物清单，而是时间流逝的迹象；末句把景物收回到思念故人。
The stanza moves from clearing rain to fading autumn light and invokes Song Yu’s tradition of autumn melancholy. Aging water plants and yellowing leaves mark time’s passage, before the final question turns the landscape into longing for an absent friend.
下片 · Second stanza
下片以“文期酒会”回忆旧约，再用星霜、海山写时间和空间的阻隔。双燕与归航都不能带来确切消息；末尾的孤鸿和斜阳把等待定格在无结果的黄昏。
The stanza recalls planned meetings for poetry and wine, then uses changing seasons and distant mountains and seas to measure the separation. Swallows and returning boats bring no reliable news. The lone goose and setting sun freeze the speaker’s waiting in an unresolved dusk.