李白 長干行 translation: Ballad of Changgan, by Li Bai
This is a very rough annotation / translation of the poem 長干行 (Chánggān Xíng), ‘Ballad of Changgan’, by the Tang Dynasty Chinese poet 李白 (Lǐ Bái).
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長干行 Chánggān Xíng [Chang] [Gan] [Ballad] Ballad of Changgan
妾髮初覆額， Qiè fà chū fù é, [I] [hair] [at first] [cover] [forehead] My hair, when I was young, covered my forehead;
折花門前劇。 zhé huā ménqián jù. [break] [flower] [door] [front] [play] one picked flowers, playing in front of the door.
郎騎竹馬來， Láng qí zhúmǎ lái, [you] [ride] [bamboo] [horse] [come] You came riding a bamboo horse;
遶床弄青梅。 rào chuáng nòng qīngméi. [encircle] [bench] [play with] [blue] [plum] encircling benches, playing with blue plums.
同居長干里， Tóngjū Chánggān lǐ, [together] [live] [Chang] [Gan] [in] We lived together in Changgan,
兩小無嫌猜。 liǎng xiǎo wú xián cāi. [two] [small] [not have] [dislike] [suspicion] two youngsters without dislike or suspicion.
十四為君婦， Shísì wèi jūn fù, [ten] [four] [be] [sir] [wife] At fourteen I became your wife,
羞顏未嘗開。 xiū yán wèicháng kāi. [shy] [face] [not yet] [try] [open] my shy face never trying a smile.
低頭向暗壁， Dītóu xiàng àn bì, [lower] [head] [to] [dark] [wall] I lowered my head to the gloomy wall;
千喚不一回。 qiān huàn bù yī huí. [thousand] [call] [not] [one] [return] of your thousand calls, I did not respond to one.
十五始展眉， Shíwǔ shǐ zhǎnméi, [ten] [five] [begin] [exhibit] [eyebrow] At fifteen my brows began to ease; (→ “I began to beam with smiles.")
願同塵與灰。 yuàn tóng chén yǔ huī. [willing] [same] [dust] [together] [ashes] willing for our dust and ashes to be together.
常存抱柱信， Cháng cún bào zhù xìn, [forever] [exist] [embrace] [pillar] [trust] Forever keeping the holding-the-pillar trust; (This is a reference to an old story about a man who arranged to meet his lover at a pillar, and clung to the pillar even as flood waters came and drowned him.)
豈上望夫臺。 qǐ shàng wàng fu tái. [how] [on] [look out] [husband] [platform] why do I climb the platform to look out for you?
十六君遠行， Shíliù jūn yuǎn xíng, [ten] [six] [sir] [far] [travel] At sixteen, you travelled far away,
瞿塘灩澦堆。 Qútáng Yànyù duī. [Qu] [Tang] [swirling] [Yu] [pile] through Qutang Gorge and the swirling rapids rocks of Yu.
五月不可觸， Wǔ yuè bùkě chù, [five] [month] [not] [can] [contact] For five months we were not in contact;
猿聲天上哀。 yuán shēng tiānshàng āi. [ape] [sound] [sky] [on] [grief] the sound of apes in the sky is mournful.
門前遲行跡， Ménqián chí xíngjì, [door] [front] [slow] [travel] [footprint] In front of the door are the hesitant footprints of your departure -
一一生綠苔。 yīyī shēng lǜ tái. [one] [one] [grow] [green] [moss] one by one they grow green moss.
苔深不能掃， Tái shēn bùnéng sǎo, [moss] [deep] [not] [can] [sweep] The moss is so thick it cannot be swept away;
落葉秋風早。 luòyè qiūfēng zǎo. [fall] [leaf] [autumn] [wind] [early] the leaves fall as the autumn winds come early.
八月蝴蝶黃， Bā yuè húdié huáng, [eight] [month] [butterfly][] [yellow] In august the butterflies turn yellow;
雙飛西園草。 shuāngfēi xī yuán cǎo. [pair] [fly] [west] [garden] [grasses] in pairs they fly to the West garden's grasses.
感此傷妾心， Gǎn cǐ shāng qiè xīn, [feel] [this] [wound] [I] [hurt] Feeling this, it injures my heart;
坐愁紅顏老。 zuò chóu hóngyán lǎo. [sit] [worry] [red] [face] [old] one sits and worries, one's beautiful face ageing. (literally “one’s red cheeks ageing”.)
早晚下三巴， Zǎowǎn xià Sānbā, [early] [late] [down] [San] [Ba] Sooner or later you will descend through Sanba -
預將書報家。 yù jiāng shū bào jiā. [beforehand] [will] [letter] [report] [home] write a letter to report home beforehand.
相迎不道遠， Xiāng yíng bù dào yuǎn, [each other] [welcome] [not] [say] [far] I will come to receive you, not speaking of the distance -
直至長風沙。 zhízhì Chángfēngshā. [up to] [arrive] [long] [wind] [sand] all the way to Changfengsha.
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