明月幾時有?把酒問青天。
How long ago the moon came into being?
Wine-inspired I demand an answer from the sky.
不知天上宮闕,今夕是何年。
And tell me what year the celestial calendar reads for tonight.
我欲乘風歸去,又恐瓊樓玉宇,高處不勝寒。
Riding the wind I will to reach my home high up there
Yet I fear the chill soaking the jade mansions everywhere.
起舞弄清影,何似在人間。
Let me dance to lift my clear shadow from the ground
And forget we are on earth for this moment now!
轉朱閣,低綺戶,照無眠。
Around the vermilion room, against the soft windows, lighting up my sleepless night,
不應有恨,何事長向別時圓?
Without our worldly sufferings,
Why should the moon reveal a perfect shape to men torn in departure?
人有悲歡離合,月有陰晴圓缺,此事古難全。
Men part and return in joys and sorrows,
The moon dims and brightens while waxes and wanes,
This is the way since ancient times.
但願人長久,千裏共嬋娟。
May our lives endure it,
And share this fair moon from the ends of the earth.