I
I yearn for one
Who’s in Chang’an.
In autumn crickets wail beside the golden rail;
The first frost, although light, invades the bed’s delight.
My lonely lamp burns dull, of longing I would die;
Rolling up screens to view the moon, in vain I sigh.
My flower-like Beauty is high
Up as clouds in the sky.
Above, the boundless heaven spreads blue screen;
Below, the endless river rolls its billows green.
My soul can’t fly o’er sky so vast nor earth so wide;
In dreams I can’t go through mountaitn pass to her side.
We are so far apart,
The yearning breaks my heart.
II
Flowers exhale thin mist when daylight fades away;
The sleepless feels sad to see the moon shed silken ray.
My harp on phoenix-holder has just become mute,
I’ll try to play upon lovebird strings of my lute.
My song’s a message. Who
Will carry it to you?
I’d ask spring wind to bear it up to the frontiers.
Between you and me there is the boundless blue sky.
Do you remember my wave-like eyes of days gone by?
Now they become a spring of tears.
If you do not believe my heart is broken, alas!
Come back and look into my bright mirror of brass!