Ballad of a Pretty Moon Goddess
羲 娥 谣
羲 和 梦 破 欲 启 行
紫 金 毕 逋 啼 一 声。
声 从 天 上 落 人 世
千 村 万 落 鸡 争 鸣.
素 娥 西 征 未 归 去
簸 弄 银 盘 浣 风 霜。
一 丸 玉 弹 东 飞 来
打 落 桂 林 雪 毛 兔。
谁 将 红 锦 木 板 天？
赤 光 绛 气 贯 山 川；
须 臾 却 驾 丹 砂 毂
推 上 寒 空 辗 苍 玉。
诗 翁 已 行 十 里 强
羲 和 早 起 道 无 双？
Xi E Yao
Xi he ment po yu qi xing
Zi jin bi bu ti yi sheng.
Sheng cong tian shang huo ren shi
Qian cun wan luo ji zheng ming.
Su e xi zheng wei gui qu
Bo nong yin pan huan feng shuang.
Yi wan yu tan dong fei lai
Da luo gui lin xue mao tu.
Shei jiang hong jin mu ban tian?
Chi guang jiang qi guan shan chuan;
Xu yu que jia dan sha gu
Tui shang han kong zhan cang yu.
Shi weng yi xing shi li qiang
Xi he zao qi dao wu shuang?
Ballad of a Pretty Moon Goddess
Moon goddess with broken dreams wants to wake up and travel
Phoenix bird goddess wails one “bi bu” sound.
The sounds arrive from heaven to wake up human societies below
In thousands of villages the chickens compete with their clucking.
Pretty moon goddess has yet to return from a long journey to the west
While there she shuffled silver plates and did not want to leave the wind and frost.
Qi Xing, the morning star, flew in from the east to encourage the moon onward
White-haired moon rabbit fell down, out of a tree in the osmanthus forest.
Who will pull the red brocade curtain across half of the sky?
Air shimmers crimson red penetrating the mountains and rivers;
Suddenly, the flaming chariot with gritted wheel hubs disappears
She pushed up the sky to reveal an empty sky of bluish-green jade.
This old man’s poem and boat have already gone thousands of miles
Who said that this pretty moon goddess can arise from her path by herself.
Notes:
Qi Xing: The planet Venus as both the morning and evening star was considered here as the pretty moon goddess.
“Bi bu” sound: An onomatopoeia that sounds like “bee boo”