<Header>
<Author: 白居易>
<Title: 夜宴醉後留...>
<Format: 七言律詩>
<Year: 1981>
<BookName: Tu Fu -A New Translation>
<Translator: Wu, Juntao>
<TranslatedTitle: Staying Behind, Tipsy after the Banquet …>
<BookPage: 636>
<UsedPage: 1>
<Feature: 1, 5>
<End Header>
<Poem>
九燭臺前十二姝
主人留醉任歡娛
翩翩舞袖雙飛蝶
宛轉歌聲一索珠
坐久欲醒還酩酊
夜深初散又踟躕
南山賓客東山妓
此會人間曾有無
<End Poem>
<Translation>
Twelve young beauties assemble
Before a nine-candled terrace.
The host, detaining his guests,
Lets them tipsily revel, just as they wish.
Sleeves of dancers flutter
As paired butterflies in flight;
Piercing sounds of their songs
Are a rope threaded with pearl.
We sit a long time
On the verge of growing sober,
Only to become once more
Hopelessly intoxicated.
In the depths of night
The guests from the southern mountain
And the whores from the eastern mountain
Scatter but first with uncertain steps.
Has such a party
Every been since time began?
<End Translation>
<Formatted Translation>
Twelve young beauties assemble Before a nine-candled terrace.
The host, detaining his guests, Lets them tipsily revel, just as they wish.
Sleeves of dancers flutter As paired butterflies in flight;
Piercing sounds of their songs Are a rope threaded with pearl.
We sit a long time On the verge of growing sober, Only to become once more Hopelessly intoxicated.
In the depths of night The guests from the southern mountain
And the whores from the eastern mountain Scatter but first with uncertain steps.
Has such a party Every been since time began?
<End Formatted Translation>