Jade Tower in Spring: No. 14
玉 楼 春
(14)
檀 槽 碎 响 金 丝 拨。
露 湿 浔 阳 江 上 月。
不 知 商 妇 为 谁 愁。
一 曲 行 人 留 夜 发。
画 堂 花 月 新 声 别。
红 蕊 调 长 弹 末 彻。
暗 将 深 意 祝 胶 弦。
唯 愿 弦 弦 无 断 绝。
Yu Lou Chun
(14)
Tan cao sui xiang jin si bo
Lu shi xun yang jiang shang yue.
Bu zhi shang fu wei shei chou
Yi qu xing ren liu ye fa.
Hua tang hua yue xin sheng bie
Hong rui tiao chang tan mo che.
An jiang shen yi zhu jiao xian
Wei yuan xian xian wu duan jue.
Jade Tower in Spring: No. 14
Group of golden silk strings over wingceltis grooves creating
scattered overtones
Dampness and dew, moon above the river in Xunyang.
Do not know who makes these melancholy tunes. One song produced, and the travelers remain for the evening.
Her one melody tries to encourage the travelers to remain for the evening
Last song continues on and on about female romance.
She brings the deep and hidden meanings from her flexible chords
The musical strings receive her wishes and desires for him without breaking.
Notes:
Wingceltis grooves: Ancient Chinese stringed musical instruments were often made out of the wood from the wingceltis trees.
Commentary:
This poems emulates the poem by the famous Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi, “Pipa Style”. This poem can be found at this website under the poet’s name.