鱼玄机，女，晚唐诗人，长安（今陕西西安）人。初名鱼幼薇，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。与文学家温庭筠为忘年交，唱和甚多。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。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。
Yu Xuanji, female, was a poet of the late Tang Dynasty, born in Chang’an (now Xi’an, Shaanxi). My original name is Yu Youwei, and my courtesy name is 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. As a lifelong friend of the literary figure Wen Tingyun, he sang many songs together. 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. Fifty of his poems still exist and 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”.
Yu Xuanji’s “Farewell to My Concubine” is a poem that depicts the poet’s idle life and indifferent state of mind. Through the depiction of natural scenery and the narration of daily activities, it shows the poet’s attitude towards life that is detached from the world and does not pursue fame and fortune.
鱼玄机·《遣怀》
闲散身无事，风光独自游。
断云江上月，解缆海中舟。
琴弄萧梁寺，诗吟庾亮楼。
丛篁堪作伴，片石好为俦。
燕雀徒为贵，金银志不求。
满杯春酒绿，对月夜窗幽。
绕砌澄清沼，抽簪映细流。
卧床书册遍，半醉起梳头。
Clearing My Mind
Yu Xuanji
At leisure, free, no duty mine,
I roam the landscape alone:
cutting through the clouds, there shines,
over the river, the moon;
throwing off its moorings,
a boat sails on the sea.
Playing the lute, reciting verse,
groves of bamboo for company,
the rocks are my companions.
To those of humble estate,
honor is simply unreal;
for those without ambition,
money has not appeal.
Filling the goblet, spring wine’s green;
beneath the moon, night music’s serene.
Beyond the flagstone walk
is a pond that’s crystal clear;
in its gentle flow
I see my unkempt hair.
Lying down in my bed,
I find it littered with books,
Though wine has made me
light of head,
I rise and comb my locks.
（Bannie Chow, Thomas Cleary 译）
Telling My Feelings
Yu Xuanji
Idle, at ease with nothing that I must attend to,
I travel alone through the sweep of the scenery.
Through broken clouds, moonlight shines on the river;
Its moorings unfastened, a boat on the sea.
I play my zither by Xiao-Liang Temple
And sing a poem at Yuliang Tower.（1）
Thickets of bamboo are worthy to be friends,
And pieces of rock serve well as companions.
Swallows and sparrows alone I consider noble,
For gold and silver are not my aim.
I fill a goblet with green spring wine,（2）
Face the moon night windows hidden.
Winding steps clear in the transparent water,
I pull out my hairpin it shines in the rippling current.
I lie on the bed, my books spread everywhere,
And then, half-drunk, I rise and comb my hair.
（1）. Because Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty, whose family name was Xiao, was the greatest early patron of Buddhism in China, Xiao-Liang Temple was a generic name for Buddhist places of worship. Yuliang Tower is the South Tower in Wuchang, Hubei.
（2）. Rustic unfiltered wine was greenish in color.
（Jennifer Carpenter 译）
