[updated September 2022]
Leaving Xuzhou: (River City Walls)
别 徐 州：江 城 子
天 涯 流 落 思 无 穷
既 相 逢，却 匆 匆。
携 手 佳 人
和 泪 折 残 红。
为 问 东 风 余 几 许？
春 纵 在，与 谁 同。
隋 堤 三 月 水 溶 溶
背 归 鸿，去 吴 中。
回 首 彭 城
清 泗 与 淮 通。
欲 寄 相 思 千 点 泪
流 不 到， 楚 江 东。
Bie Xu Zhou: Jiang Cheng Zi
Tian ya liu luo si wu qiong
Ji xiang feng, que cong cong.
Xie shou jia ren
He lei zhe can hong.
Wei wen dong feng yu ji xu?
Chun zong zai, yu shei tong.
Sui di san yue shui rong rong
Bei gui hong. qu wu zhong
Hui shou peng cheng
Qing si yu huai tong.
Yu ji xiang si qian dian lei
Liu bu dao, chu jing dong.
Leaving Xuzhou: (River City Walls)
Wander about from one remote place to another without end
Already friends with each other, now quickly must depart.
Good people working together
Mixed with tears, picked red flowers.
I ask, where can I find a place of eastern breezes and some remaining spring scenes?
With spring being here, no one to share it with.
Sui dynasty levees, March water broad and vast
Returning Chinese geese, from the middle of Wu going north.
I go south, turn around see the Peng city wall
Qingsi tributary flows into the Huai River.
Wish one thousand tears flow back to my Xuzhou friends
But the river flows an opposite direction
To the Chu River in the east.
Notes:
[The description at the end of the title identifies the name of the music which these lines are to be sung to.]
Xuzhou: Located in northern Zhejiang Province, near Lake Tai.
Wu: Nation of Wu during the Zhou Dynasty (11th century to 473 BC). Modern provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui.
Huai River: Major Chinese river flowing from west to east, and now a major tributary to the Changjiang.
Chu River: Flows through Anhui and Jiangsu provinces.