TUNE: BUDDHIST DANCERS

Wei Zhuang

(Tang Dynasty)

All men will say the Southern land is fair,

A wanderer is willing to spend his whole life there.

He'd like to see spring water bluer than the sky

And, listening to rain, in painted ship to lie.

The wine-shop waitress looks like the moon bright,

Like snow or frost congealed her arms are white.

Till he grows old, from South lands he won't part,

To leave this land for home would break his heart.

菩萨蛮

[唐]韦庄

人人尽说江南好,

游人只合江南老。

春水碧于天,

画船听雨眠。

垆边人似月,

皓腕凝霜雪。

未老莫还乡,

还乡须断肠。

About the poet 

Wei Zhuang was a Tang Dynasty (618-907) poet who was only recognized for his literature talent in his middle age.

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 Tang Poems Translated by Xu Yuanchong, Published by China Intercontinental Press