梅堯臣 汝州 translation: Ruzhou, by Mei Yaochen
This is a very rough annotation of the poem 汝州 (Rǔ zhōu), ‘Reflection of Mountain Flowers in Water’, by the Southern Song Dynasty Chinese poet 楊萬里 (Yáng Wànlǐ).
The below is a total guess, so it could be way off the actual meaning of this poem. If you have any suggestions please, share them in the comments at the end of the page.
汝州 Rǔzhōu [Ru] [Zhou] Ruzhou
主人少聽我， Zhǔrén shǎo tīng wǒ, [main] [person] [less] [listen] [me] My host barely listens to me -
為言風土殊。 wèi yán fēngtǔ shū. [for] [speech] [custom] [local] [unique] our language customs are different.
美哉面有顙， Měizāi miàn yǒu sǎng, [beautiful] [!] [face] [has] [forehead] Beautiful! This face and forehead;
生此頸若壺。 shēng cǐ jǐng ruò hú. [make] [this] [throat] [like] [pot] born in this place, their necks look like kettles.
噫號無冬夏， Yī hào wú dōngxià, [yeah] [call] [not have] [winter] [summer] Groaning and moaning, there is no difference between winter and summer;
歲禱無嗟籲。 suì dǎo wú jiē yù. [years] [pray] [not have] [sigh] [implore] but there is still no complaining or sighing at in years of prayer.
只憐郡池上， Zhǐ lián jùn chíshàng, [only] [regret] [county] [pond] [on] One only thinks of the nearby prefecture lake,
不異山林居。 bù yì shānlín jū. [not] [different] [mountain] [woods] [live] one sees no difference in living in the mountains or the woods.
Many thanks to the users at Chinese Forums who helped with this.
If you have any suggestions, please share them in the comments below.
Sources and further reading
