It Was the Deep Cup
浣溪沙
莫 许 杯 深 琥 珀 浓
未 成 沉 醉 意 先 融
疏 钟 已 应 晚 来 风。
瑞 脑 香 消 魂 梦 断
辟 寒 金 小 髻 鬟 松
醒 时 空 对 烛 花 红。
Huan Xi Sha
Mo xu bei shen hu po nong
Wei cheng chen zui yi xian rong
Shu zhong yi ying wan lai feng.
Rui nao xiang xiao hun meng duan
Pi han jin xiao ji huan song
Xing shi kong dui zhu hua hong.
It Was the Deep Cup: (Wash Small Creek Sand)
It was the deep cup, and strong amber wine
Not yet sunk and drunk, mind in the early stages of melting and blending
Lightly struck temple bell, predawn wind arrives.
The expensive and foreign incense fragrance has vanished along with the
broken dreams.
Pull out, to take apart small hairpins and coils
Sober up to an empty room, tall part of a red candle and I the same.
Notes:
Li Qingzhao wrote many ci (词) poems. These poems are like the lyrics of songs. It is poetry written to certain tunes with strict tonal patterns and rhyme schemes, also with fixed numbers of lines and words. For Li, most of the songs were old folk tunes. Because she often used the same melody for several of her poems, I and others use the first part of the poem as it’s title, and then put the song, or melody, title following inside parenthesis.
