A Tune of “Affection and Sorrow” by Yan Jidao

The following Tune of “affection and sorrow” was written by the Song dynasty poet Yan Jidao:   

阮郎归

晏几道

旧香残粉似当初，人情恨不如。一春犹有数行书，秋来书更疏。

衾凤冷，枕鸳孤，愁肠待酒舒。梦魂纵有也成虚，哪堪和梦无。

Tune: Ruan Lang Gui, affection and sorrow

By Yan Jidao

My fragrance the same

as we first met

Not so your love

fading since the day you left

You write

few lines in spring

fewer words in fall. 

Phoenix blanket cold

Pair pillows gone
And I alone with my sorrow and whiskey
keep hoping to find you in a vision
or a dream
though I dream less
these sleepless nights.

-- translated by Qihui Gong and David Lehman

Yan Jidao's dates are c. 1038-1110 (very approximate).
Professor Hsu Ping of San Jose University helped with these translations.

"Ruan Lang Gui" literally means "return of the lover" (or in Eileen's inspired rendering "back of the lover"). But she she wriotes, "the content of the tune doesn't necessarily correspond to the exact meaning of the title," and we have opted for "Affection and Sorrow" rather than "The Return of the Lover" in translating "Ruan Lang Gui" into English.

-- DL

Comments

[Jenny Factor]

David this is beautiful! The translations have all been quite remarkable.

(I haven't enjoyed translations this much since Rexroth's Women Poets of Japan! Is there a book in this trip?)

[DL]

Thank you so much, Jenny. I love doing these with "Eileen." The pity is that the authorities will not allow access to our blog in China, so she is not able to see the work -- or to read comments like yours. But I will copy them and send them to her in an e-mail!