<Header>
<Author: 韋應物>
<Title: 寄李儋元錫>
<Format: 七言律詩>
<Year: 1898>
<BookName: Chinese Poetry in English Verse>
<Translator: Herbert A. Gile>
<TranslatedTitle: A PROMISE>
<BookPage: 98>
<UsedPage: 1>
<Feature: 0>
<End Header>
<Poem>
去年花裏逢君別，
今日花開已一年。
世事茫茫難自料，
春愁黯黯獨成眠。
身多疾病思田里，
邑有流亡愧俸錢。
聞道欲來相問訊，
西樓望月幾廻圓。
<End Poem>
<Translation>
Sweet flowers were blooming all around when your last farewell you said,
And now the opening buds proclaim another year has fled.
'Tis difficult to prophesy beyond the present day,
And the remedy for trouble is to sleep it all away.
I suffer much in body, and I long for the old spot,
But cannot bring myself in pensioned idleness to rot.
You say that you will visit me, that you are coming soon:
'Twixt now and then how often shall I see the full-orbed moon?
<End Translation>