白居易诗
Poems of Bai Juyi
Index
燕诗示刘叟
A Banquet Poem for Old Liu
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梁上有双燕 翩翩雄与雌 衔泥两椽间 一巢生四儿 |
On the roofbeam, a pair of swallows. Elegant fluttering, male and female. Nest of mud, between two rafters. Born within it, fledgelings four. |
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四儿日夜长 索食声孜孜 青虫不易捕 黄口无饱期 |
Four newborns, growing day by day. Demanding food, cry without a stop. Green bugs, so hard to catch. Yellow beaks, never ever full. |
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嘴爪虽欲弊 心力不知疲 须臾十来往 犹恐巢中饥 |
Beak and claw, almost parents undoing. Constant effort, ignoring weariness. In a flash, ten times come and gone. As if afraid, babies all will starve. |
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辛勤三十日 母瘦雏渐肥 喃喃教言语 一一刷毛衣 |
Working hard, full thirty days. Mother dwindles, babies all grow fat. Murmuring, she teaches them to speak. One by one, cleans their little feathers. |
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衣旦羽翼成 引上庭树枝 举趐不回顾 隋风四散飞 |
All too soon, babies on the wing. Settling first on branches in the courtyard. Again they fly, never looking back. Carefree now, dispersing in their flight. |
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雌雄空中鸣 声尽呼不归 却入空巢里 啁啾终夜悲 |
Mother, father, crying in the sky. Cries exhausted, babies still are gone. Parents settle, find an empty nest. Voices sad, all through the night. |
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燕燕尔勿悲 尔当返自思 思尔为雏日 高飞背母时 |
Oh, my swallows, don't be sad. You should let your thoughts go back. Remember, you too once were young And flew away at nest-leaving time. |
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当时父母念 今日尔应知 |
Back then, you missed your parents too. Today, you know your chicks miss you. |
-- 白居易
废话
Sweet. Sentimental. Could have been written at any time during Bai Juyi's life. He was always sweet. And sentimental.
I don't think there are any hidden messages here. Yan (燕) means both "banquet" and "swallow." Sou (叟) means "old man" and can be used affectionately. I think Bai Juyi was invited to his old friend Liu's house for dinner, Liu's children were recently grown and gone, and Bai Juyi wrote a "banquet" poem for the Lius. The balance of the poem is addressed to the mother bird. So one would think that Mrs. Liu was certainly there, smiling, a little weepy. Bai Juyi probably got a little weepy, too. Bai's wife probably shook her head and said, "He's always this way."
Sentimental. And the God of Poetry.