Mountain Songs

Mid-Autumn Festival Night (To the Tune of Shuidiaogetou)

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Pailou on bank of Old Yellow River, Xuzhou, Jiangsu

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Mid-Autumn Festival Night (To the Tune of Shuidiaogetou)

        Sū Shì(1037-1101)
(On the Mid-autumn Festival of the Year of
Bingchen (1076), I drank heartily till dawn,
when I wrote the poem, thinking of my
brother Ziyou.)

When does such a bright moon appear?
Raising the cup, I ask the blue skies.
What year is this year
        high in the Celestial Palace?
O I would like to go back
        riding the wind,
                only it could be so chilly there,
                        in the jade and crystal towers.
Incomparable to danncing here
        in the human world
                playing with my shadow in the moonlight.
Moving around the vermilion mansion,
        coming through the carved window,
                the moon shines on the sleepless.
No cause for it to be
        so spiteful as to choose
                to appear full, bright,
                        when we stay in separation?
As people have sorrows and joys,
        meeting or parting,
                as the moon waxes and wanes
                        in clear or cloudy skies,
                                things may never be perfect.
May we all live long, sharing
        the same fair moon,
                though thousands of miles apart.

Shuǐ Diào Gē Tóu

Bǐnɡchén zhōnɡqiū, huānyǐn dá dàn,
dà zuì. Zuò cǐ piān, jiān huái zǐ yóu.

sū shì 1037-1101

Mínɡyuè jǐshí yǒu?
Bǎ jiǔ wèn qīnɡtiān.
Bùzhī tiānshànɡ ɡōnɡquè,
Jīnxī shì hé nián?
Wǒ yù chénɡ fēnɡ ɡuī qù,
Yòu kǒnɡ qiónɡlóu yùyǔ,
Gāo chū bú shènɡ hán.
Qǐ wǔ nònɡ qīnɡyǐnɡ,
Hé sì zài rénjiān?

Zhuǎn zhūɡé,
Dī qǐhù,
Zhào wú mián.
Bù yīnɡ yǒu hèn,
Hé shì chánɡ xiànɡ biéshí yuán?
Rén yǒu bēi huān lí hé,
Yuè yǒu yīn qínɡ yuán quē,
Cǐshì ɡǔ nán quán.
Dànyuàn rén chánɡjiǔ,
Qiānlǐ ɡònɡ chánjuān.

Translator: Qiu Xiaolong 裘小龍

Notes:
[大意]舉起酒杯，抬頭間蒼天，一年之中能有幾次月圓7不知道天上宮殿，今夜是哪一年？我真想駕著清風飛到月亮中去，又怕身處高高的月宮，禁受不住那裏的寂寞和寒冷。起舞翩翩，自弄清影，怎比得上在人間!月光轉過朱紅的樓閣，低灑在綺窗前，照到徹夜無眠的人身上。明月不該有什麼怨恨，為什麼偏偏在人們離別的時候才圓呢？人間總有悲歡離合之事，月亮總有陰晴圓缺之時，這種事自古難以兩全。但願身在異鄉的親人能長久平安，千里之外，也能一起欣賞夜空的一輪明麗的圓月。