白居易诗
Poems of Bai Juyi
Index
竹枝词四首
Bamboo Branches Song
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瞿唐峡口水烟低 白帝城头月向西 唱到竹枝声咽处 寒猿暗鸟一时啼 |
Mouth of Qutang Gorge. River mists hang low. Gates of White God City. Moon is moving west. Song of Bamboo Branches catches in my throat. Gibbons and dark birds cry in the night. |
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竹枝苦怨怨何人 夜静山空歇又闻 蛮儿巴女齐声唱 愁杀江楼病使君 |
Bamboo Branches' bitter resentment. But for whom? A peaceful night in these empty hills. Again I hear Miao women lift their voices all together of How on River Tower they are worried sick about you. |
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巴东船舫上巴西 波面风生雨脚齐 水蓼冷花红簇簇 江蓠湿叶碧凄凄 |
Big Sichuan river boats moving east to west against strong current, heavy wind, and a pounding rain. Water pepper blooming. Great masses of red. Wet leaves of the river herb. Cold, cold jade. |
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江畔谁人唱竹枝 前声断咽后声迟 怪来调苦缘词苦 多是通州司马诗 |
Who is singing Bamboo Branches by the riverside? Nearer voices suddenly stop. Farther ones arrive too late. Strange how bitter music has found an old, sad verse And how all through this province it is sung. |
-- 白居易
废话
It is 819 and Bai Juyi is briefly posted to Chongzhou, deep in Sichuan. Apparently, the Miao women of Sichuan have picked up an old Han lyric called Bamboo Branches and put it to music. They must have been singing it in Xunyang where Bai Juyi was posted before. That's in eastern Sichuan. Now he's in western Sichuan and they sing it here too.