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".
Thursday, 12 September 2013
2 of 3 Loop Poems:蘇小妹 採蓮人在綠楊津 Lotus-root Picker of mine, by the green willows river!
玉 採
漱 蓮
聲 人
歌 在
新 綠
闋 楊
一 津
宋 • 苏小妹 《採蓮人》连环诗: 七言回文絕句
采莲人在绿杨津, 在绿杨津一阕新。
一阕 新歌声漱玉, 歌声漱玉采莲人。
宋 • 蘇小妹 《採蓮人》连环诗: 七言回文絕句
採蓮人在綠楊津,在綠楊津一闋新。
一闋新歌聲嗽玉,歌聲嗽玉採蓮人。
In her reply, Xiaoxiao 苏小妹 of course v skilfully complimented her industrious husband Qin Shaoyou 秦少游 on employing such a new format of loop poem (cf. "Is heard such a new song fine" in her response below) and encouraged him to carry on working ("Lotus-root Picker of mine, by the green willows river!") despite delays in his planned return date.
Translated into English verse, the second Loop Poem (in this series) sounds something like:
A 7-Character Jueju (4-lined verse) Loop Poem :
"LOTUS-ROOT PICKER OF MINE, BY THE GREEN WILLOWS RIVER!”
-- by SU XIAOMEI (Song Dynasty)
-- Translated by Frank C Yue
Lotus-root Picker of mine, by the green willows river!
By the green willows river, is heard such a new song fine.
Is heard such a new song fine, with a voice like bells silver;
With a voice like bells silver – Lotus-root Picker of mine!
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