Looking at the aftermath of the recent ice storm in NE North America, my mind just shifted back to 「揚州八怪」之一,鄭板橋 的「趣怪」雪梅詩 which i translated some years ago.
《雪梅詩》 清 • 鄭板橋
一片二片三四片,
五片六片七八片。
千片萬片無數片,
飛入梅花總不見。
Xuě Méi Shī:
"FLURRIES FLYING ONTO WHITE PLUM-BLOSSOMS"
-- by Zheng Banqiao (Qing dynasty)
-- Translated by Frank C Yue
One speck, two specks, three, four specks,
Five specks, six specks, seven, eight specks,
Thousands and thousands, countless specks
Fly onto plum-blossoms and are unseen instead.
《雪梅詩》 清 • 鄭板橋
一片二片三四片,
五片六片七八片。
千片萬片無數片,
飛入梅花總不見。
Xuě Méi Shī:
"FLURRIES FLYING ONTO WHITE PLUM-BLOSSOMS"
-- by Zheng Banqiao (Qing dynasty)
-- Translated by Frank C Yue
One speck, two specks, three, four specks,
Five specks, six specks, seven, eight specks,
Thousands and thousands, countless specks
Fly onto plum-blossoms and are unseen instead.
仿鄭板橋之“雪梅詩”,寫下一首《覓伊人》詩,每詩句皆有 “遍”字。
《覓伊人》
一遍二遍三四遍,
五遍六遍七八遍。
千遍萬遍無數遍,
行遍冮南覓不見。
還有一首《騙》詩,每詩句皆有 “騙” 字。
《 騙 》
一騙二騙三四騙,
五騙六騙七八騙。
千騙萬騙無數騙,
行騙人民總不變。
《 騙 》
一騙二騙三四騙,
五騙六騙七八騙。
千騙萬騙無數騙,
行騙人民總不變。
Dear Frank, Happy Lunar New Year of the Rooster! We haven't met for quite some time now. Hope you are faring well. I happened to bump into a translation of this Zheng Banqiao poem by 冷杉 in the 今天論壇 posted 2009-4-12 some time last month and thought I should also have a go. This I did, not realizing you had already done so and as early as 2013. 冷杉's and your versions of the original are slightly different. I wonder which of the two is authentic. There may be other versions including one purportedly by 乾隆 and 紀曉嵐 which features 蘆花 rather than 梅花. In any case, I have already posted mine on 1 February 2017 on my blog and would like to share it here with you and your readers:-
ReplyDeleteZheng Xie: On Snowflakes
1 One, and two flakes, snowflakes three and four;
2 Five six, sev'n eight, nine flakes, ten and more.
3 A thousand, ten thousand, myriad flakes galore,
4 Glide into plum-flowers, snowflakes seen no more.
Hope you like it. Best wishes, Andrew Wong