TUNE: SILK-WASHING STREAM

Yan Shu

(Northern Song Dynasty)

A song filled with new words, 

a cup filled with old wine,

The bower is last year's, 

the weather is as fine.

Will last year reappear as the sun on decline?

Deeply I sigh for the fallen flowers in vain;

Vaguely I seem to know the swallows come again.

In fragrant garden path alone I still remain.

浣溪沙

[北宋]晏殊

一曲新词酒一杯,

去年天气旧亭台,

夕阳西下几时回？

无可奈何花落去,

似曾相识燕归来。

小园香径独徘徊。

About the poet 

Yan Shu is a Northern Song (960-1127) Dynasty literati who was famous for being extremely intelligent when he was little. He was also a politician.

About the translator 

Xu Yuanchong (1921-2021) was born in Nanchang in East China's Jiangxi Province. He was a professor of literary translation at Peking University.

About the book 

300 Song lyrics Translated by Xu Yuanchong Published by China Intercontinental Press