<Header>
<Author: 白居易>
<Title: 長恨歌>
<Format: 樂府詩>
<Year: 1947>
<BookName: THE WHITE PONY: An Anthology of Chinese Poetry from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, Newly Translated>
<Translator: Robert Payne>
<TranslatedTitle: THE EVERLASTING SORROW>
<BookPage: 215>
<UsedPage: 1>
<Feature: 4>
<End Header>
<Poem>
漢皇重色思傾國，
御宇多年求不得。
楊家有女初長成，
養在深閨人未識。
天生麗質難自棄，
一朝選在君王側。
回眸一笑百媚生，
六宮粉黛無顏色。
春寒賜浴華清池，
溫泉水滑洗凝脂。
侍兒扶起嬌無力，
始是新承恩澤時。
雲鬢花顏金步搖，
芙蓉帳暖度春宵。
春宵苦短日高起，
從此君王不早朝。
承歡侍宴無閑暇，
春從春遊夜專夜。
後宮佳麗三千人，
三千寵愛在一身。
金屋妝成嬌侍夜，
玉樓宴罷醉和春。
姊妹弟兄皆列土，
可憐光彩生門戶。
遂令天下父母心，
不重生男重生女。
驪宮高處入青雲，
仙樂風飄處處聞。
緩歌慢舞凝絲竹，
盡日君王看不足。
漁陽鞞鼓動地來，
驚破霓裳羽衣曲。
九重城闕煙塵生，
千乘萬騎西南行。
翠華搖搖行復止，
西出都門百餘里。
六軍不發無奈何，
宛轉蛾眉馬前死。
花鈿委地無人收，
翠翹金雀玉搔頭。
君王掩面救不得，
回看血淚相和流。
黃埃散漫風蕭索，
雲棧縈紆登劒閣。
峨嵋山下少人行，
旌旗無光日色薄。
蜀江水碧蜀山青，
聖主朝朝暮暮情。
行宮見月傷心色，
夜雨聞鈴腸斷聲。
天旋日轉迴龍馭，
到此躊躇不能去。
馬嵬坡下泥土中，
不見玉顏空死處。
君臣相顧盡霑衣，
東望都門信馬歸。
歸來池苑皆依舊，
太液芙蓉未央柳。
芙蓉如面柳如眉，
對此如何不淚垂？春風桃李花開夜，
秋雨梧桐葉落時。
西宮南苑多秋草，
宮葉滿階紅不埽。
棃園弟子白髮新，
椒房阿監青娥老。
夕殿螢飛思悄然，
孤燈挑盡未成眠。
遲遲鐘鼓初長夜，
耿耿星河欲曙天。
鴛鴦瓦冷霜華重，
翡翠衾寒誰與共。
悠悠生死別經年，
魂魄不曾來入夢。
臨邛道士鴻都客，
能以精誠致魂魄。
爲感君王展轉思，
遂教方士殷勤覓。
排空馭氣奔如電，
升天入地求之徧。
上窮碧落下黃泉，
兩處茫茫皆不見。
忽聞海上有仙山，
山在虛無縹緲間。
樓閣玲瓏五雲起，
其中綽約多仙子。
中有一人字太真，
雪膚花貌參差是。
金闕西廂叩玉扃，
轉教小玉報雙成。
聞道漢家天子使，
九華帳裏夢魂驚。
攬衣推枕起裴回，
珠箔銀屏邐迤開。
雲鬢半偏新睡覺，
花冠不整下堂來。
風吹仙袂飄颻舉，
猶似霓裳羽衣舞。
玉容寂莫淚闌干，
棃花一枝春帶雨。
含情凝睇謝君王，
一別音容兩渺茫。
昭陽殿裏恩愛絕，
蓬萊宮中日月長。
回頭下望人寰處，
不見長安見塵霧。
唯將舊物表深情，
鈿合金釵寄將去。
釵留一股合一扇，
釵擘黃金合分鈿。
但教心似金鈿堅，
天上人間會相見。
臨別殷勤重寄詞，
詞中有誓兩心知。
七月七日長生殿，
夜半無人私語時。
在天願作比翼鳥，
在地願爲連理枝。
天長地久有時盡，
此恨緜緜無絕期。
<End Poem>
<Translation>
This Chinese Emperor, loving beauty, longed for "the killer of Empires",
Yet for many years of his reign he could never find one.
There was in the family of Yang a young girl grown to womanhood,
Reared in the inner apartments and scarcely known:
Nature had endowed her with beauty hard to conceal.
One day she was taken and presented to the Emperor.
When she turned and smiled her hundred charms appear
Rendering colourless all the painted girls of the Six Palaces.
In the cold Spring she was bathed in Hua Ch'ing Pool,
In the caressing hot springs she was washed smooth as curd—
Enchanting her fragility when held up by the maidens.
It was then that she began to receive the favours of the king.
Wearing flowering aigrettes and gold plumes,
In a warm bed netted with hibiscus she passed the spring nights.
O Spring nights too short, O sun too early on high!
Henceforth the king never summoned his morning levees.
She shared his pleasures and feasts, was never at leisure,
Accomplice of his journeys in spring, companion of his nights,
There were three thousand beauties in the inner apartments,
But of all these three thousand he loved only one.
In a gold house she prepared herself for the night,
In jade towers after feasting they surrendered to drunkenness.
Her sisters and brothers were honoured with fiefs,
So bright a glory fell on the whole family
That all mothers and fathers in the Empire
Thought it better to give birth to girls than to boys.
From the palace of the Dark Horse which pierces the blue clouds
A fairy music, riding the winds, was heard throughout the land,
Of graceful singing and waving dances from zithers and flutes—
Rejoicing all day, the Emperor never tired.
Then the war-drums were heard, shaking the earth, from Yu-yang,
Throwing into panic "the Song of the Rainbow Skirt and the Coat of Feathers”.
From the city of nine-fold walls dust rose like smoke,
A thousand chariots, ten thousand horsemen rode south-west,
The emperor's kingfisher pennon trembling and coming to a halt
At a place a hundred li west of the imperial city.
What could be done when the Six Hosts refused to march?
Knitting her moth eye-brows, death caught her among the horses,
Her hair-pins scattered over the earth, no one picking them up—
Kingfisher feathers, gold birds, combs of jade.
The Emperor hid his face, unable to save her;
At last he turned towards her, tears mingled with blood.
Yellow dust floating in space, winds whistling in the air—
Along winding bridges, over precipices, they climbed Sword Pass.
On Mount Omei few travellers pass.
In this dim sunlight how dull were their banners!
In Shu the rivers are green, the hills are blue.
His Sacred Majesty sorrowed from dawn to dusk.
From the imperial palace the moon was seen to be grief-stricken,
The bells in the night rain twisted the entrails.
Heaven and Earth revolved, the Dragon Chariot drove home;
Reaching the fatal place, he lingered and could not go
There in the dust and sand on the slope of Ma Wei
He sees no more her jade face, only the empty death place.
The eyes of Sovereign and minister meet, they wet their robes with tears,
Then look east to the capital and give rein to their horses.
There is the Pool, there are the flowers as of old,
Hibiscus in the Sublime Lake, willows in the Palace of Endless Days—
Hibiscus like her face, willow-twigs like her brows.
Seeing these things, how could he not shed tears
When plum-trees and pear-trees blossom in the Spring winds,
When the leaves of the wu-t'ung tree fall in the autumn rain?
In the west and south palaces autumn grasses abound.
Unswept and red are the fallen leaves on the steps.
In the Pear Blossom Gardens the hair of the student is white,
The brows of the eunuchs of the Pepper Chamber now are aged.
In the hall at night, where fireflies flit, he sinks in silence,
Unable to sleep, though the oil in the lonely lamp has burnt out—
So slow are the watchman's bells and the nights so long.
Rivers of stars dimly scatter their light, pretending to be dawn,
The duck-and-drake tiles are cold, the frost sharp.
Who will share with him the kingfisher quilts of old?
O great is the distance separating the dead from the living!
Though a year had passed, her ghost had not visited him in dreams.
A taoist monk from Lin-ch'ung, a guest from Hung-tu,
Could by his faith summon the spirits from the dead.
Weighed down by the Emperor's mourning and perpetual torments,
The sorcerer was bidden to seek out the dead.
Borne on the air, charioting the winds, he flew like lightning,
Soaring to heaven, descending to earth, seeking everywhere,
Exploring the empyrean; below, the Yellow Springs;
But nowhere in these vast spaces did he discover anything.
He heard that on the sea lay a magic mountain,
A mountain engulfed among mysterious vacuities,
Where decorated palaces rose on five-coloured clouds
And many divine creatures lived there delicately.
Among them was one called T'ai Chen,
Whose snow-white skin and flowery face might be hers.
At the western wing of a gold house he knocks on a jade door
And bids Small Jade call on her mistress, Double Triumph,
To announce the presence of the Son of Heaven, Lord of Han.
Beneath the nine flower curtains the Queen awakens from dreams,
Puts on her dress, pushes the pillows away, rises and hesitates,
Then slides the pearl curtains open with a silver hook—
The clouds of her hair awry as she awakens from slumber,
he steps down into the hall with flowery head-dress in disarray.
The sleeves of the float in the waving air.
Once more she seemed to be dancing "the Rainbow Skirt and Coat of Feathers,"
Her pure face sorrowing, slowly the tears falling—
O branch of pear-blossom in the Spring rain!
Subduing her emotion,with frozen tears,she thanked the Emperor:
"Since we parted, our voices and faces have been separated,
The passionate loves of Chao Yangs Hall have been cut short.
The days and months in Peng-lai Palace were so long.
Now I gaze down upon the world of men.
Never do I see Ch’ang-an—only the dust and the haze.
Only by these keepsakes can I show my undying love.
Through you I offer this gold hairpin and this inlaid case.
One wing of the hairpin I keep, one half of the case.
Tell him, if his heart endures as gold or metal,
In heaven or earth we shall one day meet again".
Then, as he went away, she confided an imploring message,
Speaking an oath known only to the two lovers,
Spoken in Eternal Life Hall on the seventh day of the seventh moon,
When they were secretly talking, no one present, at midnight:
"In the skies we shall be twin birds that fly together,
On earth we shall be trees with branches intertwined.
Heaven is enduring, earth long-living, but they will perish,
But the everlasting sorrow will never come to an end”.
<End Translation>