Qin Tai
琴 台
茂 陵 多 病 后
尚 爱 桌 文 君。
酒 肆 人 间 世
琴 台 日 暮 云。
野 花 留 宝 靥
蔓 草 见 罗 裙。
归 凤 求 凰 意
廖 廖 不 复 闻。
Qin Tai
Mao ling duo bing hou
Shang ai zhuo wen jun.
Jiu si ren jian shi
Qin tai ri mu yun.
Ye hua liu bao ye
Man cao jian luo qun.
Gui feng qiu huang yi
Liao liao bu fu wen.
Qin Tai
After many illnesses Si Ma went to Mao Ling
He valued and cherished Zhuo Wenjun.
They willfully sold wine in the market in order to live
Everyday with sunset clouds they performed at Qin Tai.
All that remains now are country wildflowers that remind me of her treasured dimples
Vines and grasses like seeing her again with displayed skirts.
Music of male and female phoenixes still played here
Very few can duplicate this couple’s emotions.
Notes:
Qin Tai: The qin is a stringed musical instrument. It is being played on a terrace (tai).
Si Ma Xianglu and Zhuo Wenjun: Zhuo was a female poet during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-25 AD). Noted for the poem Baitou Yu (White-Haired Lament). She eloped with poet Sima Xiangnu (c. 179-117 BC) who was famous for using the fu form for poetry (a prose poem mixed with rhymed verse).