Breezes Contain Sweet Sounds of Harmony: (Auspicious Partridges)
瑞 鹧 鸪
风 韵 雍 容 未 甚 都
尊 前 甘 橘 可 为 奴。
谁 怜 流 落 江 湖 上
玉 骨 冰 肌 未 肯 枯。
谁 教 并 蒂 连 枝 摘
醉 后 明 皇 倚 太 真。
居 士 擘 开 真 有 意
要 吟 风 味 两 家 新。
Rui Zhe Gu
Feng yun yong rong wei shen dou
Zun qian gan ju ke wei nu.
Shei lian liu luo jiang hu shang
Yu gu bing ji wei ken ku.
Shei jiao bing di lian zhi zhai
Zui hou ming huang yi tai zhen.
Ju shi bo kai zhen you yi
Yao yin feng wei liang jia xin.
Breezes Contain Sweet Sounds of Harmony: (Auspicious Partridges)
Breezes contain sweet sounds of harmony and more
I can be your loyal servant like the tangerine trees of Li Heng.
Too bad these flowers grow along rivers and lakesides away from most people
Their skins and flesh the colors of jade, not withered or soiled.
Let us pick this pair of flowers connected at the base
Like when Yang Guifei and the emperor were drunk, admiring the flowers.
The lotus buds and I open up and have a wish
He and I may recite and chant our poems of two newly wed families.
Notes:
[Li Qingzhao and her husband were living in the city of Qingzhou, Shandong Province]
Li Heng: Ancient story of a man who was nearing death. He ordered the planting of many tangerine trees to leave as a legacy for his son.
Yang Guifei: Tang Dynasty Xuanzong’s favorite and infamous for facilitating the collapse of the empire. Excellent prose poem on this website written about this tragic love affair by Bai Juyi.