Yu Xuanji was a female poet in the Tang Dynasty. Her original name was Yu Youwei, and her courtesy name was Huilan. She was born in Chang’an (now Xi’an, Shaanxi Province), and her birth and death years are unknown. In the Xiantong period (the reign of Emperor Yizong of the Tang Dynasty, 860-874 AD), she became a concubine of Li Yi, who was appointed as a clerk. However, Li’s wife could not tolerate her, so she became a Taoist priest in Xianyi Temple in Chang’an and changed her name to Yu Xuanji. Later, she was executed by Jingzhao Yin Wen Zhang for killing her maid Luqiao. Yu Xuanji was intelligent, fond of reading, and had talent and was particularly good at poetry. She exchanged poems with Li Ying, Wen Tingyun and others. Her poems can be found in the Complete Tang Poems. There are more than 50 poems left, and there is a volume of Yu Xuanji Collection.
鱼玄机，唐代女诗人。初名鱼幼微，字蕙兰。长安（今陕西西安）人，生卒年不详。咸通（唐懿宗年号，公元860—874年）中，为补阙李亿为妾，为李妻不能容，出家于长安咸宜观为女道士，改名鱼玄机。后因杀侍婢绿翘，为京兆尹温璋处死。鱼玄机性聪慧，好读书，有才思，尤工诗歌，与李郢、温庭筠等有诗篇往来。其诗作见于《全唐诗》，现存有五十余首，有《鱼玄机集》一卷。
《和新及第悼亡诗二首·其一》 鱼玄机
仙籍人间不久留，片时已过十经秋。
鸳鸯帐下香犹暖，鹦鹉笼中语未休。
朝露缀花如脸恨，晚风敧柳似眉愁。
彩云一去无消息，潘岳多情欲白头。
Replying to a Poem by a New Graduate Lamenting the Loss of His Wife
Yu Hsuan-chi
Immortals don’t stay long in the world of men;
You’ve passed another fall, already ten.
Pairs of ducks on a curtain, beneath, her fragrance lingers;
In the parrot’s cage her words are not yet stilled.
Morning dew pastes the flowers in a sad face;
Evening wind bends the willows like dropping eyebrows.
Colored clouds come once, then go away;
P’an Yueh, wistful, is going gray.
