《情书》是晚唐女诗人鱼玄机所做的一首五律。鱼玄机，女，晚唐诗人，长安（今陕西西安）人。初名鱼幼微，字蕙兰。咸通（唐懿宗年号，860—874）中为补阙李亿妾，以李妻不能容，进长安咸宜观出家为女道士。后被京兆尹温璋以打死婢女之罪名处死。鱼玄机性聪慧，有才思，好读书，尤工诗。与李冶、薛涛、刘采春并称唐代四大女诗人。鱼玄机其诗作现存五十首，收于《全唐诗》。有《鱼玄机集》一卷。其事迹见《唐才子传》等书。
Love Letter “is a five character poem written by the late Tang female poet Mermaid Xuanji. Yu Xuanji, female, was a poet of the late Tang Dynasty, born in Chang’an (now Xi’an, Shaanxi). The original name is Yu Youwei, with the courtesy name Huilan. In Xiantong (Tang Yizong era name, 860-874), Li Yifei was appointed as a concubine to fill the vacancy. As Li’s wife could not tolerate her, she entered Xianyi Temple in Chang’an and became a female Taoist priest. Later, he was executed by the Jingzhao Yin Wen Zhang on charges of killing a maid. Yu Xuanji is intelligent, talented, good at reading, and particularly skilled in poetry. She is known as one of the four great female poets of the Tang Dynasty, along with Li Ye, Xue Tao, and Liu Caichun. There are currently fifty poems by Yu Xuanji, which are included in the “Complete Tang Poems”. There is a volume called ‘Fish Mysteries Collection’. His deeds can be found in books such as “Biography of Tang Talented Scholars”.
鱼玄机·《情书》
饮冰食檗志无功，晋水壶关在梦中。
秦镜欲分愁堕鹊，舜琴将弄怨飞鸿。
井边桐叶鸣秋雨，窗下银灯暗晓风。
书信茫茫何处问，持竿尽日碧江空。
A Love Note
Yu Xuanji
Living a simple life
in austere faithfulness
my aim has no connection
with ordinary success.
Still there I my dreams
Remains the scenery of yore,
rivers and mountains of the West
where we were before.
Now the mirror of our union
lies broken on the floor;
as I was going to strum the lute,
my lover was there no more.
By the well, the autumn leaves
make the fall rain cry;
by the window, early dawn breeze
makes the silver lamp die.
Where in the world can I ever inquire
Where your letters are?
By the azure river I wait all day
for news of you from afar.
（Bannie Chow, Thomas Cleary 译）
