恨人間、情是何物 - 元好問

恨人間、情是何物？

直教生死相許。

天南地北雙飛客，

老翅幾回寒暑？

歡樂趣，離別苦，

是中更有癡兒女。

君應有語：渺萬裏層雲，

千山暮景，隻影為誰去？

A Stanza of a Verse by Yuan Haowen (Jin dynasty)

(What is Love)

Sick at heart, I beseech heavens above,

“Pray tell me, what is love?

How could it bind loved ones, whether alive or dead?

To north, to south, the loved pair will fly ahead,

Through countless seasons hot or cold,

Though pinions old, each other they still hold.”

Twain loved hearts, in the long-haul flight,

Endure the parting pain or in reunion delight.

Like those ardent lovers on earth,

They would die for love with mirth.

“Afore myriad layers of clouds,

And peaks that twilit scene enshrouds,”

The bereaved cries on with bitter sigh:

“For whom, for what, would I now fly?”

Tr. Ziyuzile

(To be revised)

18/03/23