[updated October 2022]
Autumn Sunset
秋 夕
红 烛 秋 光 冷 画 屏
轻 罗 小 扇 扑 流 萤。
天 阶 夜 色 凉 如 水
坐 看 牵 牛 织 女 星。
Qiu Xi
Hong zhu qiu guang leng hua ping
Qing luo xiao shan pu liu ying.
Tian jie ye se liang ru shui
Zuo kan qian niu zhi nu xing.
Autumn Sunset
Her cool autumn light from red candles falls onto a painted screen
With a small fan, she easily catches and pounces on the moving fireflies.
Cold evening colors, she flows like water down the palace steps
Sits and watches for the Oxherd and Weaver Girl stars to meet.
Notes:
Oxherd and Weaver Girl: Famous romantic folktale of two lovers, one the female star of Vega, and the other the male star of Altair. Banished to the opposite ends of the Milky Way, they can only see each other on one day a year. They reunite on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, known as Double Seven Day, similar to our Valentines Day. They are able to meet because of a bridge made of magpies.