【紙花如雪滿天飛】 清 • 鄭板橋
紙花如雪滿天飛,
嬌女秋子打四圍。
飛彩羅裙風擺動,
好將蝴蝶鬥春歸。
"Like snow, paper flow'rs in the sky "
-- ZHENG BANQIAO (Qing Dynasty)
-- Translated by Frank C Yue
Like snow, paper flow'rs in the sky --
They are flying low, flying high;
Cute little girl with some boys more,
Play Autumn in the directions four.
The bright multi-coloured skirts fine,
The wind blowing free from side to side.
Such a valiant small butterfly,
Fighting a comeback as Spring goes by.
Translator's Note:
Though the poet did not directly name the game above, this is one of my favourite
pastimes and certainly many grown-ups have flown or run before one in their childhood with fond memories.
A brief collection of my attempted English renditions of selected Chinese poems, both contemporary and classical. (Each original classical Chinese poem may be presented in both the traditional and simplified forms, followed by the English translation.) Comments and suggested amendments welcome. (But I may not have the time to respond to every comment.) I am a follower of Andrew W F Wong's excellent blog "Classical Chinese Poems in English".
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