“Dream of the Red Chamber” - Song of Flower Burial (in Rhyme of Peking Opera)
Written by Cao Xueqin [Qing Dynasty] (清) 曹雪芹
花谢花飞花满天，红消香断有谁怜？
游丝软系飘春榭，落絮轻沾扑绣帘；
The blossoms fade and falling fill the air,
Of fragrance and bright hues bereft and bare.
Floss drifts and flutters round the Maiden`s bower,
Or softly strikes against her curtained door.
一年三百六十日，风刀霜剑严相逼；
明媚鲜妍能几时，一朝飘泊难寻觅。
Three hundred and three-score the year`s full tale:
From swords of frost and from the slaughtering gale
How can the lovely flowers long stay intact,
Or, once loosed,from their drifting fate draw back?
花开易见落难寻，阶前闷杀葬花人；
独倚花锄泪暗洒，洒上空枝见血痕。
Blooming so steadfast ,fallen so hard to find!
Beside the flowers`grave,with sorrowing mind,
The solitary Maid sheds many a tear,
Which on the boughs as blood drops appear.
愿奴胁下生双翼，随花飞到天尽头。
天尽头，何处有香丘？天尽头，何处有香丘？
And then I wished that I had wings to fly
After the drifting flowers across the sky:
Across the sky to the world`s farthest end,
The flowers` last fragrant resting-place to find.
未若锦囊收艳骨，一抔净土掩风流；
质本洁来还洁去，强于污淖陷渠沟。
But better their remains in silk to lay
And bury underneath the wholesome clay,
Pure substances the pure earth to enrich,
Than leave to soak and stink in some foul ditch.
尔今死去侬收葬，未卜侬身何日丧？
侬今葬花人笑痴，他年葬侬知是谁？
Can I,that these flowers` obsequies attend,
Divine how soon or late my life will end?
Let others laugh flower-burial to see:
Another year who will be burying me?
Across the sky to the world`s farthest end,
The flowers` last fragrant resting-place to find.
As petals drop and spring begins to fail,
The bloom of youth,too,sickens and turns pale.
One day,when spring has gone and youth has fled.
The Maiden and the flowers will both be dead.
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