[updated September 2022]
I Remember the First Time
蝶 恋 花
记 得 画 屏 初 会 遇。
好 梦 惊 回，望 断 高 唐 路。
燕 子 双 飞 来 又 去
纱 窗 几 度 春 光 暮。
那 日 绣 帘 相 见 处。
低 眼 佯 行，笑 整 香 云 缕。
敛 尽 春 山 羞 不 语。
人 前 深 意 难 轻 诉。
Die Lian Hua
Ji de hua ping chu hui yu.
Hao meng jing hui, wang duan gao tang lu.
Yan zi shuang fei lai you qu
Sha chuang ji du chun guang mu.
Na ri xiu lian xiang jian wai.
Di yan yang xing, xiao zheng xiang yun lu.
Lian jin chun shan xiu bu yu.
Ren qian shen yi nan qing su.
I Remember The First Time (Butterflies Love Flowers)
I remember the first time we had the opportunity to meet
It was at the pictured screen room divider, good dream startled awake
to consciousness, the view in the distance of Gao Tanglu is gone.
Young swallows fly in and out
Gauze windows, several spring landscapes like this coming to an end.
On this day we saw each other where the embroidered curtains hung
With eyes looking down, pretend to leave, smiles exchanged like aromatic, wispy clouds.
Restrained expressions, bashful with no words
But with so many people around, difficult to tell you my feelings.
Notes:
Gao Tanglu: Ancient name for the present day city of Ningbo, Zhejiang province.
Butterflies Love Flowers: This is the tune, or melody, for this song poem. It is the first part of the title, with the second part being the first few words from the first line of the poem. This kind of poem is called a ci. It is like our song lyrics. That is, a poem set to music, usually to a well-known melody, often an old folk tune.