滾滾長江東逝水

楊慎

 

滾滾長江東逝水，浪花淘盡英雄。是非成敗轉頭空。青山依舊在，幾度夕陽紅。
白發漁樵江渚上，慣看秋月春風。一壺濁酒喜相逢。古今多少事，都付笑談中。

 

The rolling Yangzi waters fade to the east, carrying with them all heroes.

Right, wrong, win, or loss crumbles into mere vanity within a head-turn.

Only the green mountains remain as the sun sets day after day.

 

The hoary fisher on the river is long used to the changes of the years.

Meeting old pals over a pot of muddy moonshine is enough to bring him joy.

Tales throughout history melt in their rapping and peals of laughter.

 

REFERENCE:

https://www.gushiwen.cn/mingju/juv_780f85e643bd.aspx

[7grizzly]

success, or failure ==> win, or loss
rap ==> rapping

[7grizzly]

回複 '暖冬cool夏' 的評論 : Thank you, 暖冬, for reading, your kind encouragement, and pointing out the typo.

It's been many years since I last read the poem and the second part struck a cord this time. And I thought I'd like to render it so that my boy might like it someday.

That's a big goal and there are a lot to do. This morning, for example, I thought of replacing 'white-haired' with 'hoary.' More revisions might come.

[暖冬cool夏]

Wow, what a wonderful translation! Learnt a lot like: moonshine, rap and peals of laughter, etc.
Love your use of verbs here, such as "crumble into, melt in ..."
I consulted online to know that "濁酒" means "粗釀的，未經過過濾的粗酒“， undistilled. So your "muddy moonshine" could be just what it implies. "Moonshine" is a new word to me. Thank you.
By the way, a small typo here "heroes":)