花謝花飛飛滿天，紅消香斷有誰憐？
As blossoms fade and fly across the sky,
Who pities the faded red, the scent that has been?
遊絲軟係飄春榭，落絮輕沾撲繡簾。
Softly the gossamer floats over spring pavilions,
Gently the willow fluff wafts to the embroidered screen.
閨中女兒惜春暮，愁緒滿懷無釋處，
A girl in her chamber mourns the passing of spring,
No relief from anxiety her poor heart knows;
手把花鋤出繡閨，忍踏落花來複去。
Hoe in hand she steps through her portal,
Loath to tread on the blossom as she comes and goes.
柳絲榆莢自芳菲，不管桃飄與李飛。
Willows and elms, fresh and verdant,
Care not if peach and plum blossom drift away;
桃李明年能再發，明年閨中知有誰？
Next year the peach and plum will bloom again,
But her chamber may stand empty on that day.
三月香巢已壘成，梁間燕子太無情。
By the third month the scented nests are built,
But the swallows on the beam are heartless all;
明年花發雖可啄，卻不道人去梁空巢也傾！
Next year, though once again you may peck the buds,
From the beam of an empty room your nest will fall.
一年三百六十日，風刀霜劍嚴相逼。
Each year for three hundred and sixty days
The cutting wind and biting frost contend.
明媚鮮妍能幾時，一朝飄泊難尋覓。
How long can beauty flower fresh and fair?
In a single day wind can whirl it to its end.
花開易見落難尋，階前悶殺葬花人。
Fallen, the brightest blooms are hard to find;
With aching heart their grave-digger comes now.
獨倚花鋤淚暗灑，灑上空枝見血痕。
Alone, her hoe in hand, her secret tears
Falling like drops of blood on each bare bough.
杜鵑無語正黃昏，荷鋤歸去掩重門。
Dusk falls and the cuckoo is silent;
Her hoe brought back, the lodge is locked and still;
青燈照壁人初睡，冷雨敲窗被未溫。
A green lamp lights the wall as steep enfolds her,
Cold rain pelts the casement and her quilt is chill.
怪奴底事倍傷神，半為憐春半惱春：
What causes my two-fold anguish?
Love for spring and resentment of spring;
憐春忽至惱忽去，至又無言去不聞。
For suddenly it comes and suddenly goes,
Its arrival unheralded, noiseless its departing.
昨宵庭外悲歌發，知是花魂與鳥魂？
Last night from the courtyard floated a sad song –
Was it the soul of blossom, the soul of birds?
花魂鳥魂總難留，鳥自無言花自羞。
Hard to detain, the soul of blossom or birds,
For blossoms have no assurance, birds no words.
願奴脅下生雙翼，隨花飛到天盡頭。
I long to take wing and fly
With the flowers to earth's uttermost bound;
天盡頭，何處有香丘？
And yet at earth's uttermost bound
Where can a fragrant burial mound be found?
未若錦囊收豔骨，一抔淨土掩風流。
Better shroud the fair petals in silk
With clean earth for their outer attire;
質本潔來還潔去，強於汙淖陷渠溝。
For pure you came and pure shall go,
Not sinking into some foul ditch or mire.
爾今死去儂收葬，未卜儂身何日喪？
Now you are dead I come to bury you;
None has divined the day when I shall die;
儂今葬花人笑癡，他年葬儂知是誰？
Men laugh at my folly in burying fallen flowers,
But who will bury me when dead I lie?
試看春殘花漸落，便是紅顏老死時。
See, when spring draws to a close and flowers fall,
This is the season when beauty must ebb and fade;
一朝春盡紅顏老，花落人亡兩不知。
The day that spring takes wing and beauty fades
Who will care for the fallen blossom or dead maid?
