<Header>
<Author: 李頎>
<Title: 琴歌>
<Format: 七言古詩>
<Year: 2009>
<BookName: Three Hundred TANG POEMS>
<Translator: Harris, Peter>
<TranslatedTitle: Song og the zither>
<BookPage: 140>
<UsedPage: 1>
<Feature: 1>
<End Header>
<Poem>
主人有酒歡今夕，
請奏鳴琴廣陵客。
月照城頭烏半飛，
霜淒萬樹風入衣。
銅鑪華燭燭增輝，
初彈淥水後楚妃。
一聲已動物皆靜，
四座無言星欲稀。
清淮奉使千餘里，
敢告雲山從此始。
<End Poem>
<Translation>
Trnaslation>
Our host has ale for us to make
the evening a pleasant one,
And invites his guest from Yangzhou
to play the zither for us.
The moon shines on to the city wall
and birds start into flight;
Countless trees are chilled by frost
as the wind gets into our clothes.
By a copper burner and painted candles,
the candles ever more bright,
She starts with ‘Limpid stream’ then plays
‘The concubine of Chu’.
As soon as the sounds begin to stir,
everything falls silent –
On all four sides her listeners are quiet;
even the stars grow faint.
An official assignment brings me hundreds of miles,
here by the clear Huai waters,
But allow me to tell you, a life of seclusion
begins with music like that.
<End Translation>
<Formatted Translation>
Our host has ale for us to make the evening a pleasant one,
And invites his guest from Yangzhou to play the zither for us.
The moon shines on to the city wall and birds start into flight;
Countless trees are chilled by frost as the wind gets into our clothes.
By a copper burner and painted candles, the candles ever more bright,
She starts with ‘Limpid stream’ then plays‘The concubine of Chu’.
As soon as the sounds begin to stir, everything falls silent –
On all four sides her listeners are quiet; even the stars grow faint.
An official assignment brings me hundreds of miles, here by the clear Huai waters,
But allow me to tell you, a life of seclusion begins with music like that.
<End Formatted Translation>