[updated September 2022]
Yanzi Tower: Three Poems: No. 1
燕 子 楼： 三 首
(1)
满 窗 明 月 满 帘 霜
被 冷 灯 残 拂 卧 床。
燕 子 楼 中 霜 月 夜
秋 来 只 为 一 人 长。
Yan Zi Lou: San Shou
(1)
Man chuang ming yue man lian shuang
Bei leng deng can fu wo chuang.
Yan zi lou zhong shuang yue ye
Qiu lai zhi wei yi ren chang.
Yanzi Tower: Three Poems: No. 1
Window filled with bright moonlight on a curtain of frost
Candle remnants, lay on a cold quilt and bed alone.
Evening moon, frost upon the Yanzi Tower
Autumn arrives, for a long time she waits for him by herself.
Notes:
Bai Juyi wrote this poem in remembrance for an old friend, Mr. Zhang. They met each other years before in Xuzhou. Mr. Zhang had a tower-like building that was used for throwing parties and entertaining. A young song-making lady was the source of a poem of Bai’s. Twelve years later some Xuzhou friends came to visit him. They told him that Mr. Zhang had passed away and that the young lady had remained on all these years. She never married, but lived with a couple of servant girls. After having read a poem about her from one of these new visitors, Bai Juyi remembers and shares the poem he wrote for the young lady years before.