李冶诗
Poems of Li Ye
Index
从萧叔子听弹琴赋得三峡流泉歌
On Hearing Brother-in-Law Xiao play the Lute, a Poetic Essay on the Three Gorges' Fountain Song
|
妾家本住巫山云 巫山流泉常自闻 玉琴弹出转寥夐 直是当时梦里听 |
My home was originally the Wushan clouds And Wushan fountain sounded often in my ears. Like a jade lute's music it transformed the silence So that being there was always like a dream. |
|
三峡迢迢几千里 一时流入幽闺里 巨石崩崖指下生 飞泉走浪弦中起 |
Three Gorges far away, how many leagues? Briefly there it flows, into a secret chamber, Where great rocks will fall if pushed with a finger And the waves from the fountain become musical strings. |
|
初疑愤怒含雷风 又似呜咽流不通 回湍曲濑势将尽 时复滴沥平沙中 |
First you feel the anger in the thundering wind. Then water is sobbing where it cannot flow through. This music rushing back and forth surely must end Where it comes down to a trickle on final, quiet sands. |
|
忆昔阮公为此曲 能令仲容听不足 一弹既罢复一弹 愿作流泉镇相续 |
In ancient days, Duke Ruan would play this fountain tune And his courtiers would never grow tired of it. As soon as he had played it through, he would take it up again. And, like the fountain in the gorges, it still rolls over us. |
-- 李冶
废话
I have just one little remark to make on the title of this poem. I think it indicates that Li Ye, at some point, is married. The character shu1 (叔) can mean "uncle" which can be an affectionate term. But shu1zi5 (叔子) means "brother-in-law" or "husband's younger brother." Was she married before becoming a Daoist nun? After? Was she a widow? Did her husband divorce her due to her wanting to be a nun? Lots of questions and no answers. But unless we want to translate 萧叔子 as "whistling uncle's son," our picture of Li Ye must include her marraige, whatever that means.