[updated October 2022]
Poetry of Yue Women: Five Poems
越 女 词： 五 首
(1)
长 干 吴 儿 女
眉 目 艳 星 月。
屐 上 足 如 霜
不 着 鸦 头 袜。
(2)
吴 儿 多 白 皙
好 为 荡 舟 剧。
卖 眼 掷 春 心
折 花 调 行 客。
(3)
耶 溪 采 莲 女
见 客 棹 歌 回。
笑 入 荷 花 去
佯 羞 不 出 来。
(4)
东 阳 素 足 女
会 稽 素 足 女。
相 看 月 未 堕
白 地 断 肝 肠。
(5)
镜 湖 水 如 月
耶 溪 女 如 雪。
新 妆 荡 新 波
光 景 两 奇 绝。
Yue Nu Ci: Wu Shou
(1)
Chang gan wu er nu
Mei mu yan xing yue.
Ji shang zu ru shuang
Bu zhao ya tou wa.
(2)
Wu er duo bai xi
Hao wei dang zhou ju.
Mai yan zhi chun xin
She hua diao xing ke.
(3)
Ye xi cai lian nu
Jian ke zhao ge hui.
Xiao ru he hua qu
Yang xiu bu chu lai.
(4)
Dong yang su zu nu
Hui ji su ge lang.
Xiang kan yue wei duo
Bai di duan gan chang.
(5)
Jing hu shui ru yue
Ye xi nu ru xue
Xin zhuang dang xin bo
Guang jing liang qi jue.
Yue Women Poetry: Five Poems
(1)
Changgan street, Wu female children
Curved eyebrows, eyes sparkle like the moon and stars.
Upon their clogs, feet as white as frost
Do not wear tabby socks.
(2)
Wu children’s skin clear and white
Easy to show off on shallow-draft boats.
Casting glances in the spirit of spring
Breaking off flowers to tease the traveling visitors.
(3)
Shaoxing ladies gather lotus flowers
Seeing visitors pull their oars, send songs to them.
Departing lotus flowers, inside the girls smile
Pretending to be bashful, they do not appear.
(4)
Dongyang ladies white bare feet
Huiji village boys on plain barges used as ferrymen.
Seeing each other, lovers cannot sleep under the moon
Like cultivated land, their hearts broken into pieces.
(5)
Lake water mirrored like the moon
Regional ladies skin like snow.
New hair ornaments swing with springtime waves
Smooth reflections from water and ladies are special.
Notes:
Yue women: Yue Nation state during the first millennium BC, composed of the modern day provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu.
Wu children: Wu: Nation state during the Western Zhou dynasty (11th century BC to 473 BC). Located east of Chu and south of Wu states, included parts of Fuzhou and Zhejiang provinces.
Shaoxing ladies: City located in eastern Zhejiang Province on the southern banks of the Qiantang River between Hangzhou and Ningbo.
Dongyang ladies: City of Zhejiang Province, and south of Hangzhou.
Huiji village: Current city district of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province.