Tears Moisten Silk Clothes: (Butterflies Love Flowers)
蝶 恋 花
泪 湿 罗 衣 脂 粉 满
四 叠 阳 关
唱 到 千 千 遍。
人 道 山 长 山 又 断
萧 萧 微 雨 闻 孤 馆。
惜 别 伤 离 方 寸 乱
忘 了 临 行
酒 盏 深 和 浅。
好 把 音 书 凭 过 雁
东 莱 不 似 蓬 莱 远。
Die Lian Hua
Lei shi luo yi zhi fen man
Si die yang guan
Chang dao qian qian bian.
Ren dao shan chang shan you duan
Xiao xiao wei yu wen gu guan.
Xi bie shang li fang cun luan
Wang le lin xing
Jiu zhan shen he qian.
Hao ba yin shu ping guo yan
Dong lai bu si peng lai yuan.
Tears Moisten Silk Clothes: (Butterflies Love Flowers)
Tears moisten silk clothes, powder and rouge full
Repeat over and over the four movements of Yang Guan
Singing this song thousands of times everywhere I go.
Well-traveled road through mountain after mountain range
Sounds of rustling wind, light on in a solitary traveler’s inn.
Our reluctance to part, sadness and turmoil remains in my heart-mind
Forget about having to travel, small wine cups were filled and emptied
many times.
It’s good we can write to each other like migrating geese
Donglai not as distant as Penglai.
Notes:
Yang Guan: A mountain pass in Gansu Province. Historically a defensive western outpost of the empire on the famous Silk Road. The Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei wrote a famous quatrain about this place where he sent off a friend. It has been used as a metaphor for sad departures ever since.
Donglai: A group of ancient counties in the Shandong Province peninsula.