元好問 情是何物 節譯

恨人间、情是何物 - 元好问

 

恨人间、情是何物？

直教生死相许。

天南地北双飞客，

老翅几回寒暑？

 

欢乐趣，离别苦，

是中更有痴儿女。

君应有语：渺万里层云，

千山暮景，只影为谁去？

 

A Stanza of a Verse by Yuan Haowen (Jin dynasty)

(What is Love)

 

Sick at heart, I beseech heavens above,

“Pray tell me, what is love?

How could it bind loved ones, whether alive or dead?

To north, to south, the loved pair will fly ahead,

Through countless seasons hot or cold,

Though pinions old, each other they still hold.”

 

Twain loved hearts, in the long-haul flight,

Endure the parting pain or in reunion delight.

Like those ardent lovers on earth,

They would die for love with mirth.

“Afore myriad layers of clouds,

And peaks that twilit scene enshrouds,”

The bereaved cries on with bitter sigh:

“For whom, for what, would I now fly?”

 

Tr. Ziyuzile

(To be revised)

18/03/23