鹊桥仙
秦观
纤云弄巧，
飞星传恨，
银汉迢迢暗渡。
金风玉露一相逢，
便胜却人间无数。
柔情似水，
佳期如梦，
忍顾鹊桥归路。
两情若是久长时，
又岂在朝朝暮暮。
Queqiaoxian
Qin Guan
Clouds have their peculiar flair and skill;
They can change their size and shape, as they will.
Stars have qualities more wonderful still;
The hopes of their fellows, they can fulfill,
In those celestial regions, high above,
As links for one star to approach her love,
They help “Lassie” to cross the Milky Way,
To see her “Laddie” once a year, this day.
Their love is like heavenly dew for gods to drink.
To the human level, it would never sink.
One rendezvous between them is of more worth –
Than countless such as we have on this, our earth.
Their love is constant, as water is, in its flow.
Their lover’s meeting is short, as sweet dreams go.
How she bears the sight of Magpie Bridge without a tear,
Which Marks their separation for another year!
Since their affection is something that endure,
Must they bill and coo as daily renewer?
（徐忠杰 译）
Immortals at the Magpie Bridge
Qin Guan
Clouds float like works of art,
Stars shoot with grief at heart.
Across the Milky Way the Cowherd meets the Maid.
When Autumn’s Golden Wind embraces Dew of Jade,
All the love scenes on earth, however many, fade.
Their tender love flows like a stream;
Their happy date seems but a dream.
How can they bear a separate homeward way?
If love between both sides can last for aye,
Why need they stay together night and day?
（许渊冲 译）
Immortal at Magpie Bridge
Qin Guan
Fine clouds float easy and free,
Shooting stars shine with sorrow.
They enjoy a secret date once a year over the far-off Milky Way.
As fall wind hugs the chill dew,
They outshine all worldly dates.
Their tender love flows like a stream,
Their nice date is but a fancy dream.
How can they bear to go each one’s way homeward?
If the love for each other goes on as ever,
Why need they stay together day and night?
（黄新渠 译）
Que Qiao Xian
Qin Guan
The fleecy clouds affect patterns delicate;
The flying stars communicate their grief e’er so deep,
Crossing the expansive Milky Way they meet.
Alas! That single meet amid celestial winds and dews
Surpasses countless meets on earth.
Sweet tenderness overflows their hearts,
Short rendezvous passes like a dream:
Mournfully she contemplates her homeward way
Across the magpie-bridge!
Yet if two hearts are ever steadfast,
Though parted, they are together
Night and day!
（黄宏荃 译）
To the Melody
<The Magpie-Bridge Legend>
Chin Guan
The Weaving-Girl with skillful fingers is clever,
As if gentle clouds were flying faster and faster.
Silently the Cowboy-Star crossed the Milky Way,
For releasing her grief on the Double-Seventh-Day*,
Like Golden Wind and Jade Dew merged once again.
No meeting was happier than the couple’s reunion.
Their water-like tenderness was pretty warm,
Their reunion date’s like a wonderful dream.
Weaving-Girl and Cowboy were reluctant to be apart,
The two heavenly stars knew true love would ever last,
Regardless of their mutual separation day and night.
* Chinese Double-Seventh-Day is similar to the Valentine’s Day in the West.
（朱曼华 译）
Immortals on the Magpie Bridge*
Qin Guan
Her love into th’ clouds the Maid subtly weaves,
And th’ shooting stars display how th’ Cowherd grieves.
When dew falls the Milky Way sees their meeting rare.
However, no secular love can e’er compare
With the holy sentiments they for a time share.
Their tender feeling is like a long stream;
Their rendezvous’s like a transient dream.
They may not bear to part at th’ Magpie Bridge! But nay,
So long as undying their affections will stay,
Whereat should they be bound up every night and day?
* This tune name derives from the myth of the sincere love between the Cowboy (Niulang) and the Weaver (Zhinu), who are separated by the Heavenly Queen with the Milky Way and allowed to meet only once in a year at the bridge built by the magpies which sympathize with them.
（卓振英 译）
Meeting across the Milky Way
(To the Tune of Queqiaoxian)
Qin Guan
Through the varying shapes of the delicate clouds
the sad message of the shooting stars,
a silent journey across the Milky Way,
one meeting of the Cowherd and Weaver*
amidst the golden autumn wind and jade-glistening dew,
eclipses the countless meetings
in the mundane world.
The feelings soft as water,
the ecstatic moment unreal as a dream,
how can one have the heart to go back
on the bridge made of magpies?
If the two hearts are united forever,
why do the two persons need to stay
together – day after day,
night after night?
* According to a Chinese legend, two constellations, the Cowherd and Weaver, separated by the Milky Way, are allowed to meet across a bridge formed by the magpies once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month in the Chinese lunar calendar.
（裘小龙 译）
Immortal at the Magpie Bridge
Qin Guan
Fine clouds float and change,
Hundreds of clever shapes emerging.
The flying stars transmit regret,
Milky Way far away was secretly passed.
During the time of jade dew and golden wind,
Once they meet,
Far better than man’s world, theirs must.
Tender feelings as water,
Nuptial day as dream,
Who will be hardhearted enough,
To see her magpie bridge way home?
If two hearts are permanent,
How could they care about,
Being together from morning till night.
（林孔辉 译）
Tune: “Que Qiao Xian”
Cowherd and the Weaver
Qin Guan
Fine clouds show their artistic faces.
Blinking stars convey their grief in space.
So dim and far to go across the Milky Way.
Meeting once a year at a time of white
dew and autumn wind is far more touching
than reunion on earth numerous times.
Their feelings are water-like tender;
their special date once a year is like a dream.
On the magpie bridge, how can they bear
to turn homeward again?
If mutual love will be long and never die,
why need to be together day and night?
（张畅繁 译）
Queqiaoxian
Qin Guan
Colorful fully clouds her weaving skills show,
Shooting stars convey their eternal woe; *
Across the wide Milky Way to a tryst they go.
Their meeting on this golden autumn night is worth
All year’s love of a couple on earth.
Their love is as gentle as water of a stream,
Their happy reunion is like a sweet dream.
How could they leave the Bridge in moonbeam? **
But, if love is steadfast and true,
Absence makes the heart fonder grow.
* In Chinese mythology, the two stars of Altair and Vega stand for Niulang (the Cowherd) and Zhinü (the Weavergirl) respectively. The story about them was originated during the Han Dynasty. The two beloved were separated by the Heaven River (the Milky Way) and could meet only once a year on the Bridge of Magpie on the seventh day of the seventh month of Chinese lunar calendar.
** The Bridge in moonbeam is related with Chinse mythology. On the seventh day of the seventh month of Chinse lunar calendar, the Chinese legend goes that all the magpies in the world would take pity on the Cowherd and the Weavergirl and fly up into heaven to make a bridge (the Bridge of Magpie) on the Heaven River (the Milky Way) so that the two beloved may be together for a single night every year. Therefore, the connotation of the expression the Bridge of Magpie is anything that brings the beloved together, something like the Cupid’s Arrow.
（陈君朴、冯修文 译）
lines for the que qiao xian melody
Qin Guan
these transparent clouds so delicate and beautiful
the milky way so luminous a star vanishes in it
that falling star which carries regret like a messenger
for the cowherd and the woman at the loom
altair and vega
those lovers who can meet only once in a year
but for them this is more wonderful
than the countless times
loves in this world meet
they are joined for one long perfected moment
they merge into each other like slow running waters
their happy loving is the kindliest of dreams
oh they have to know the sadness of looking back
as they depart on their separate ways
traveling over the bridge of birds
but because what they feel shines in them forever
it surely does not distress them
each day and each night they cannot be together
（王守义、约翰·诺弗尔 译）
Immortal Lovers on Magpie Bridge
(Que-qiao-xian)
Qin Guan
With subtlety delicate clouds sway,
Flying stars their fierce love-feelings convey:
The lovers stealthily cross the lengthy Milky Way.
Once the golden breeze and jade dews have encountered,
Countless pairs in the human world are bettered.
Tender feelings like a stream,
Joyful tryst seems a dream,
How can they bear to look at the bridge of magpies
Their parting way?
Should the feelings of both eternal stay,
Why need to be with each other night ’n’ day?
（贺淯滨 译）
P’u – Ch’ü Ch’iao Hsien
(To the tune-title ‘Immortals of the Magpie Bridge’)
The Weaver-Girl and the Herd-Boy
Ch’in Kuan
As lovely clouds contrive new patterns
These flying stars fulfil their yearnings,
In darkness crossing the distant gulf of the Milky Way.
What though they only meet in the Golden Wind and the Pearly Dew?
They are happier far than the countless people living on earth.
Her gentle heart is soft as water,
The blissful hours flow like a dream.
Of the journey back by the Magpie Bridge can they bear a thought?
When feelings stir in the hearts of lovers deeper than time’s abyss
Does it matter how seldom they meet?
（Alan Ayling & Duncan Mackintosh 译）
Tune: Queqiaoxian
Qin Guan
Clouds float like works of art,
Stars bring the grief of love.
Across the Milky Way, the Cowherd meets the Maid.
When the golden autumn’s wind encounters with dew of jade,
Their meeting is better than many times on earth.
Their tender love flows like a stream,
Their happy date seems as sweet dreams.
How she bears the sight of Magpie Bridge without a tear!
If the affection on both sides can endure,
Why need they stay together night and day?
（毛小雨 译）
