涉江采芙蓉 translation - Crossing the River to Pick Hibiscus

This is a translation of the poem 涉江采芙蓉 from 古詩十九首 (Nineteen Old Poems).

涉江采芙蓉 shè jiāng cǎi fú róng [wade] [river] [pick] [hibiscus][] I cross the river to pick hibiscus,

蘭澤多芳草 lán zé duō fāng cǎo [orchid] [good] [many] [fragrant] [grass] the brilliant orchid and the many fragrant herbs.

采之欲遺誰 cǎi zhī yù yí shéi [pick] [it] [desire] [leave with] [someone] I pick it and desire to give it to someone,

所思在遠道 suǒ sī zài yuǎn dào [that which] [consider] [at] [far] [way] but the one whom I think of is journeying far away.

還顧望舊鄉 hái gù wàng jiù xiāng [still] [look] [gaze] [old] [countryside] I still gaze at the old countryside,

長路漫浩浩 zhǎng lù màn hào hào [long] [road] [unrestrained] [vast] [vast] the long road and its vast expanse.

同心而離居 tóng xīn ér lí jū [same] [heart] [yet] [apart] [live] We are of one mind yet live apart,

憂傷以終老 yōu shāng yǐ zhōng lǎo [grief] [wound] [take] [end] [old] and in the end I grow old, wounded by grief.

涉江采芙蓉 from the Nineteen Old Poems (Han dynasty 207BCE – 220CE)