<Header>
<Author: 白居易>
<Title: 長恨歌>
<Format: 樂府詩>
<Year: 1989>
<BookName: 100 TANG POEMS 唐詩一百首>
<Translator: Zhang Tingchen & Bruce M. Wilson>
<TranslatedTitle: Song of Enduring Sorrow>
<BookPage: 142-153>
<UsedPage: 12>
<Feature: 1, 2, 3, 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>
The Han emperor held women's beauty dear 000,
And many years he sought in vain 
$The empire overturning loveliness of old.$
There came of age a daughter of the Yang,
Reared in inner chambers, unknown by any, 
But graced by Heaven with a beauty that cannot be hidden. 
Chosen for the emperor's side at last, 
Her smiling glance unleashed a hundred charms 
That turned to pallor all the paint and color of the women's quarters. 
0000 Yet fragile she was, and delicate, 
That cold spring day $the serving maids$
Had bathed her in the Huaqing Pool, 
The hot-spring waters coursing over the milk white skin.
They set a headdress sewn with golden bangles 
Upon the cloudy hair of her whose face was like a flower 
And sent her into the imperial presence. 
Under a lotus patterned net the two then slept, 
Regretting only the shortness of spring nights, 
How soon the sun was high. 
Henceforth the emperor forsook his morning audiences. 
Having won his favor, ceaselessly she accompanied him 
To feasts and spring excursions; 
Every night she was his chosen partner. 
Of three thousand beauties in the inner palace, 
Only she enjoyed his love. 
In her golden chamber, she would dress carefully for the night: 
Their jade mansion revels over, she intoxicated him with mellow wine and spring pleasure. Her sisters and brothers all were given landed titles; 
Wondrous, how she made her kin illustrious! 
$Because of her,$ 00 parents 0 throughout the realm 
Set greater store by daughters than by sons. 
From the Li Palace, rising high amid the clouds, 
Otherworldly music was borne upon the winds; 
She sang and danced, in measured harmony to reed and strings. 
From dawn to dusk the emperor never tired of it all. 
Then from Yuyang the drums of war shook the earth, 
And cut short the Rainbow Skirt and Feather Mantle Song. 
Smoke and dust rose above the Nine-Fold Palace Walls 
As thousands of horses and carriages moved southwest. 
Streaming, the imperial banners haltingly progressed 
Until they stopped, a hundred i or so west of the capital. 
There, the six battalions would not budge
Unless the moth-browed beauty be put to death before the horses. 
No one gathered the flower pendants, the golden birds, 
Jade pins, and green tassels fallen on the ground. 
Unable to save her, the emperor covered his face; 
Looking back, his tears mingled with her blood. 
Then yellow dust whirled past them on the desolate winds; 
To the Pass of Swords their path wound through the clouds. 
0
In the dim light $of Mt. Emei's shadow$, 
The banners had lost their brilliance. 
But as green as the waters of Shu, as blue as her mountains, 
Was the grief of His Majesty, each day, each night. 
Heart-rending was the color of the moon, seen from the temporary palace; 
Heart-rending, the sounding of the bell in the night rain. 
When the revolving heavens had once again restored the sun 
$Its primal place,$ the Dragon Charlot headed home. 
The emperor could not bring himself to leave 
The slopes of Mawei, 0000  where she'd been slain, 
Though nothing remained there of that face of jade. 
Then exchanging glances, he and his lords burst into tears, 
And gave their horses free rein eastward to the capital. 
There the ponds, the gardens were exactly as before. 
How could he not shed tears 
Seeing in the lotus of Taiyi $her face,$
In the willows of Weiyang $her brow? $
0
Spring winds still brought the plum and peach to bloom. 
And in the autumn rain the leaves of plane trees fell. 
But the 0 palace grounds 00 were choked with autumn grasses; 
Red leaves, unswept, covered the terraces.
The Young Folk of the Pear Garden had gray hair now; 
The lithe maidens of the Pepper Palace had become old women. 
As fireflies lit the empty pavilions, 
The emperor spent his evenings lost in solitary thought. 
Long after the lonely lamp was spent, he lay awake; 
Bell and drum would slowly sound the night away; 
The River of Heaven shone bright toward break of day. 
Under roof tiles of duck and drake, cold with heavy frost, 
The kingfisher-embroidered quilt gave no warmth to him who slept alone. 
Though long ago death parted them, 
Her spirit never visited his dreams.
Moved by the emperor's troubled mind, 
His lords entreated a Taoist monk from Linqiong, 
Well skilled in arts of necromancy, to seek her soul. 
0
In a cloud-mounting chariot of winds he searched, 
Lightning fast, traversing every stretch of heaven and earth, 
From the Yellow Springs to the Realms of Bliss, 
But nowhere was she found. 
Then suddenly he learned that from the sea arose 00
A mountain of Shimmering Emptiness and Glittering Illusion, 
There, in towers exquisite, amid the rainbow clouds, 
Dwelt the most refined and delicate of fairy maidens. 
Among them there was one named Tai Zhen,
Whose snow white skin and  flower face resembled hers.
He knocked at the western chamber of the golden palace; 
Report of him was relayed by little maidens fair as jade. 
News of this envoy from the Son of Heaven 
Startled the dreaming soul beneath the flowery canopy. 
Pushing aside her pillow, straightening her clothes, 
Her cloudlike hair and golden headress still undone by sleep, 
She arose and paused a moment, 
Then plunged through silver portals hung with pearl. 
0
As her fairy sleeves the billowing breeze unfurled, 
It seemed she danced still to the Rainbow Skirt and Feather Mantle Song. 
As spring raindrops fall upon a sprig of blossoming pear, 
Lonely tears streamed down the face of jade. 
Then checking her emotions, she thanked the emperor: 
"Since our love in the Zhaoyang Palace was cut short, 
How remote his voice and visage have become. 
0
Glancing downward to the human world, 
All I see of Chang-an is dust and mist. 
Since only with old, familiar things can I express my love, 
Give him please this box of shell inlay, this hairpin of gold."
Then breaking in half the hairpin, and separating the box, 
She kept half of each for herself, and gave the envoy half. 
"Be our hearts as durable as these bits of shell and gold, 
Someday we shall meet again, in heaven or on earth."
He started then to leave, but suddenly she added, with great emotion: 
"Those whose hearts have beat as one 
Make pledges no one else can know.
So did we on the seventh of the seventh month, 
In the Palace of Longevity, 00 undisturbed by anyone: 
"In the heavens may we be like birds 
That wing to wing do fly; 
On earth like aged trees 
Whose sturdy branches intertwine." 
The vaulting sky and ancient earth each someday will reach an end,
But sorrow such as theirs will never fade away.
<End Translation>
<Formatted Translation>
The Han emperor held women's beauty dear 000,
And many years he sought in vain $The empire overturning loveliness of old. $
There came of age a daughter of the Yang,
Reared in inner chambers, unknown by any, 
But graced by Heaven with a beauty that cannot be hidden. 
Chosen for the emperor's side at last, 
Her smiling glance unleashed a hundred charms 
That turned to pallor all the paint and color of the women's quarters. 
That cold spring day $the serving maids$ Had bathed her in the Huaqing Pool, 
The hot-spring waters coursing over the milk white skin.
0000 Yet fragile she was, and delicate, 
And sent her into the imperial presence. 
They set a headdress sewn with golden bangles Upon the cloudy hair of her whose face was like a flower 
Under a lotus patterned net the two then slept, 
Regretting only the shortness of spring nights, How soon the sun was high. 
Henceforth the emperor forsook his morning audiences. 
Having won his favor, ceaselessly she accompanied him 
To feasts and spring excursions; Every night she was his chosen partner. 
Of three thousand beauties in the inner palace, 
Only she enjoyed his love. 
In her golden chamber, she would dress carefully for the night: 
Their jade mansion revels over, she intoxicated him with mellow wine and spring pleasure. Her sisters and brothers all were given landed titles; 
Wondrous, how she made her kin illustrious! 
$Because of her,$ 00 parents 0 throughout the realm 
Set greater store by daughters than by sons. 
From the Li Palace, rising high amid the clouds, 
Otherworldly music was borne upon the winds; 
She sang and danced, in measured harmony to reed and strings. 
From dawn to dusk the emperor never tired of it all. 
Then from Yuyang the drums of war shook the earth, 
And cut short the Rainbow Skirt and Feather Mantle Song. 
Smoke and dust rose above the Nine-Fold Palace Walls 
As thousands of horses and carriages moved southwest. 
Streaming, the imperial banners haltingly progressed 
Until they stopped, a hundred i or so west of the capital. 
There, the six battalions would not budge
Unless the moth-browed beauty be put to death before the horses. 
No one gathered the flower pendants, 
the golden birds, Jade pins, and green tassels fallen on the ground. 
Unable to save her, the emperor covered his face; 
Looking back, his tears mingled with her blood. 
Then yellow dust whirled past them on the desolate winds; 
To the Pass of Swords their path wound through the clouds. 
0
In the dim light $of Mt. Emei's shadow$, The banners had lost their brilliance. 
But as green as the waters of Shu, as blue as her mountains, 
Was the grief of His Majesty, each day, each night. 
Heart-rending was the color of the moon, seen from the temporary palace; 
Heart-rending, the sounding of the bell in the night rain. 
When the revolving heavens had once again restored the sun $Its primal place,$ the Dragon Charlot headed home. 
The emperor could not bring himself to leave 
The slopes of Mawei, 0000
where she'd been slain, Though nothing remained there of that face of jade. 
Then exchanging glances, he and his lords burst into tears, 
And gave their horses free rein eastward to the capital. 
There the ponds, the gardens were exactly as before. 
Seeing in the lotus of Taiyi $her face$, In the willows of Weiyang $her brow?$
0 
How could he not shed tears 
Spring winds still brought the plum and peach to bloom. 
And in the autumn rain the leaves of plane trees fell. 
But the 0 palace grounds 00 were choked with autumn grasses; 
Red leaves, unswept, covered the terraces.
The Young Folk of the Pear Garden had gray hair now; 
The lithe maidens of the Pepper Palace had become old women. 
As fireflies lit the empty pavilions, The emperor spent his evenings lost in solitary thought. 
Long after the lonely lamp was spent, he lay awake; 
Bell and drum would slowly sound the night away; 
The River of Heaven shone bright toward break of day. 
Under roof tiles of duck and drake, cold with heavy frost, 
The kingfisher-embroidered quilt gave no warmth to him who slept alone. 
Though long ago death parted them, 
Her spirit never visited his dreams.
His lords entreated a Taoist monk from Linqiong, 
Well skilled in arts of necromancy, to seek her soul. 
Moved by the emperor's troubled mind, 
0
In a cloud-mounting chariot of winds he searched, Lightning fast, 
traversing every stretch of heaven and earth, 
From the Yellow Springs to the Realms of Bliss, 
But nowhere was she found. 
Then suddenly he learned that from the sea arose 00
A mountain of Shimmering Emptiness and Glittering Illusion, 
There, in towers exquisite, amid the rainbow clouds, 
Dwelt the most refined and delicate of fairy maidens. 
Among them there was one named Tai Zhen,
Whose snow white skin and  flower face resembled hers.
He knocked at the western chamber of the golden palace; 
Report of him was relayed by little maidens fair as jade. 
News of this envoy from the Son of Heaven 
Startled the dreaming soul beneath the flowery canopy. 
Pushing aside her pillow, straightening her clothes, 
She arose and paused a moment, Then plunged through silver portals hung with pearl.
Her cloudlike hair and golden headress still undone by sleep, 
0
As her fairy sleeves the billowing breeze unfurled, 
It seemed she danced still to the Rainbow Skirt and Feather Mantle Song. 
Lonely tears streamed down the face of jade. 
As spring raindrops fall upon a sprig of blossoming pear, 
Then checking her emotions, she thanked the emperor: 
How remote his voice and visage have become. 
"Since our love in the Zhaoyang Palace was cut short, 
0
Glancing downward to the human world, 
All I see of Chang-an is dust and mist. 
Since only with old, familiar things can I express my love, 
Give him please this box of shell inlay, this hairpin of gold."
Then breaking in half the hairpin, and separating the box, 
She kept half of each for herself, and gave the envoy half. 
"Be our hearts as durable as these bits of shell and gold, 
Someday we shall meet again, in heaven or on earth."
He started then to leave, but suddenly she added, with great emotion: 
"Those whose hearts have beat as one Make pledges no one else can know.
So did we on the seventh of the seventh month, In the Palace of Longevity, 
00 undisturbed by anyone: 
"In the heavens may we be like birds That wing to wing do fly; 
On earth like aged trees Whose sturdy branches intertwine."
The vaulting sky and ancient earth each someday will reach an end,
But sorrow such as theirs will never fade away.
<End Formatted Translation>