（紅樓夢詩詞選譯）枉凝眉 - 曹雪芹

枉凝眉 - 曹雪芹

 

一個是閬苑仙葩，

一個是美玉無瑕。

若說沒奇緣，

今生偏又遇著他，

若說有奇緣，

如何心事終虛化。

 

一個枉自喈呀，

一個空勞牽掛。

一個是水中月，

一個是鏡中花。

想眼中能有多少淚珠兒，

怎經得秋流到冬盡，

春流到夏？

 

Wrinkled the brow in Vain

by Cao Xueqin

 

One’s an enchanted flower from an ethereal place,

The other’s a jade immaculately grace.

If it were not a fated tie,

Such mutual thrills how could they come by?

If it were fate-crafted one,

Why on earth their wishes could yield none.

 

One can only sigh on and on,

The other overstrains his yearning like a moron.

One seems the moon in water,

The other simply a flower in mirror.

Alas, how many tears could well forth in her eye,

O, how could her tears-sheding ne’er die

From fall to winter without a break

Of spring and summer in the wake?

 

 

*I try my hand at it for fun...bricks are welcome!