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”.
Spring Love Sending to Zi’an “is a heartfelt love poem created by Tang Dynasty female poet Renyu Xuanji, expressing the poet’s deep longing and inner pain for a distant lover.
鱼玄机·《春情寄子安》
山路欹斜石磴危，不愁行苦苦相思。
冰销远涧怜清韵，雪远寒峰想玉姿。
莫听凡歌春病酒，休招闲客夜贪棋。
如松匪石盟长在，比翼连襟会肯迟。
虽恨独行冬尽日，终期相见月圆时。
别君何物堪持赠，泪落晴光一首诗。
To a Lover, Spring Feelings
Yu Xuanji
The mountain trails are steep,
their rocky steps so dangerous,
and yet the pain of travel
is not the heart of my sorrow;
the pain is my longing for you.
Ice in distant valleys melting
moves me like your clear, crisp voice;
snow afar on the frigid peaks
reminds me of your handsome form.
Please don’t listen to vulgar songs
and drink too much in spring;
avoid the company of idlers
who like to play cheese all night.
Constant as pine,
not hard like a stone,
I pledge to be always here;
as birds of a feather
whose hearts are conjoined,
can our union be far?
Though I dislike traveling alone
all the winter day,
I know I can count on meeting you
when the moon is full.
And when I leave,
what can I give
for a suitable farewell?
Falling tears in the clear daylight—
a poem from me to you.
（Bannie Chow, Thomas Cleary 译）
Spring Feelings, Sent to Zi’an
Yu Xuanji
The mountain road slants, the rocky steps are steep;
But I don’t lament the hardships of travel, it is my longing that is bitter.
Ice melts in far torrents I am touched by your clear rhymes,
Snow lies distant on cold peaks I think of your jade-like beauty.
Don’t listen to common songs and grow sick on wine in spring,
Don’t invite guests to while away the time, eager for games of chess at night.
I am like pine I am no stone my oath will always endure,（1）
Like paired-wing birds or two robes joined, how could I want to delay our meeting?（2）
Though I regret traveling alone through a whole winter’s day,
In the end, I’ll wait to see you when the moon is full.
Parted, what is a worthy present to give to you?
Tears that fall in the bright light and this single poem.
（1）. Poem 26 of the Book of Odes was reputedly composed by a young widow who refused to obey her family’s demand that she remarry: “My heart is not a stone; you cannot roll it about,” she protests.
（2）. The biyi, a legendary bird, had only one wing and could not fly without a mate. Like “two robes joined,” it became a symbol of conjugal felicity.
（Jennifer Carpenter 译）
