白居易诗
Poems of Bai Juyi
Index
浪淘沙
Wave-Beaten Shore
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一泊沙来一泊去 一重浪灭一重生 相搅相淘无歇日 会交山海一时平 |
One ship comes to anchor. One sails away. One wave rolls in to die and then it is reborn. Here, all is stirred and beaten with never a restful day. Will these waters ever, ever be at peace? |
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白浪茫茫与海连 平沙浩浩四无边 暮去朝来淘不住 遂令东海变桑田 |
White waves go on forever, far across the sea. Flat sand, too, goes on and on, unbounded. Evening goes and morning comes, the water never rests Until the Eastern Sea becomes a mulberry orchard. |
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青草湖中万里程 黄梅雨里一人行 愁见滩头夜泊处 风翻暗浪打船声 |
Spring grass by a blue lake, a million miles away. Yellow blossoms in the rain as we both walk along. I'm sad here by this beach where my boat is moored tonight. Wind beats a rhythm with dark waves against the hull. |
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借问江潮与海水 何似君情与妾心 相恨不如潮有信 相思始觉海非深 |
Asking if this tidal bore brings up the ocean's water Is like asking if your feelings now still include my heart. I'd rather trust the tide than our feelings of regret. Missing you, I start to think the ocean's not so wide. |
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海底飞尘终有日 山头化石岂无时 谁道小郎抛小妇 船头一去没回期 |
Wind blows over ocean depths. Finally, the sun lights Rocks on stony hills. But who has time for that? Who would think a young man could leave you behind? But these boats all sail away. There's no returning time. |
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随波逐浪到天涯 迁客生还有几家 却到帝乡重富贵 请君莫忘浪淘沙 |
Follow billows, chase the waves to a distant shore. It takes more than one home to bring the exile home alive. When you get to Heaven and receive your right reward I ask you please to not forget this wave-beaten shore. |
-- 白居易
废话
I think this poem is proof that in Bai Juyi's long life there was one woman other than his wife. Possibly it was the singing girl in Chang'an whose shoes he kept until they rotted away in the Sichuan damp. We don't get to choose who comes into our heart or who gets to stay there. Our hearts are at the mercy of external, spiritual forces. I don't know when this was written. But I, and others, seem to think it is a mature poem from later in his life. This is the most beautiful poem I have worked with so far.