hàn huáng zhòng sè sī qīng guó,
yù yǔ duō nián qiú bù dé。
yáng jiā yòu nǚ chū cháng chéng,
yǎng zài shēn guī rén wèi shí。
tiān shēng lì zhì nán zì qì,
yīzhāo xuǎn zài jūn wáng cè。
huí móu yī xiào bǎi mèi shēng,
liù gōng fěn dài wú yán sè。
chūn hán cì yù huá qīng chí,
wēn quán shuǐ huá xǐ níng zhī。
shì '
ér fú qǐ jiāo wú lì,
shǐ shì xīn chéng '
ēn zé shí。
yún bìn huā yán jīn bù yáo,
fú róng zhàng nuǎn dù chūn xiāo。
chūn xiāo kǔ duǎn rì gāo qǐ,
cóng cǐ jūn wáng bù zǎo cháo。
chéng huān shì yàn wú xián xiá,
chūn cóng chūn yóu yè zhuān yè。
hòu gōng jiā lì sān qiān rén,
sān qiān chǒng '
ài zài yī shēn。
jīn wū zhuāng chéng jiāo shì yè,
yù lóu yàn bà zuì hé chūn。
zǐ mèi dì xiōng jiē liè tǔ,
kě lián guāng cǎi shēng mén hù。
suì lìng tiān xià fù mǔ xīn,
bù zhòng shēng nán chóngshēng nǚ。
lí gōng gāo chù rù qīng yún,
xiān lè fēng piāo chù chù wén。
huǎn gē màn wǔ níng sī zhú,
jìn rì jūn wáng kàn bù zú。
yú yáng pí gǔ dòng dì lái,
jīng pò ní cháng yǔ yī qū。
jiǔchóng chéng jué yān chén shēng,
qiānshèng wàn qí xī nán xíng。
cuì huá yáo yáo xíng fù zhǐ,
xī chū dū mén bǎi yú lǐ。
liù jūn bù fā wú nài hé,
wǎn zhuǎn '
é méi mǎ qián sǐ。
huā diàn wěi dì wú rén shōu,
cuì qiáo jīn què yù sāo tóu。
jūn wáng yǎn miàn jiù bù dé,
huí kàn xuè lèi xiānghè liú。
huáng '
āi sǎnmàn fēng xiāo suǒ,
yún zhàn yíng yū dēng jiàn gé。
é méi shān xià shǎo rén xíng,
jīng qí wú guāng rì sè bó。
shǔ jiāng shuǐ bì shǔ shān qīng,
shèng zhù cháo cháo mù mù qíng。
xíng gōng jiàn yuè shāng xīn sè,
yè yǔ wén líng cháng duàn shēng。
tiān xuán rì zhuǎn huí lóng yù,
dào cǐ chóu chú bù néng qù。
mǎ wéi pō xià ní tǔ zhōng,
bù jiàn yù yán kōng sǐ chù。
jūn chén xiāng gù jìn zhān yī,
dōng wàng dū mén xìn mǎ guī。
guī lái chí yuàn jiē yǐ jiù,
tài yè fú róng wèi yāng liǔ。
fú róng rú miàn liǔ rú méi,
duì cǐ rú hé bù lèi chuí。
chūn fēng táo lǐ huā kāi yè,
qiū yǔ wú tóng yè luò shí。
xī gōng nán nèi duō qiū cǎo,
luò yè mǎn jiē hóng bù sǎo。
lí yuán dì zǐ báifà xīn,
jiāo fáng '
ā jiān qīng '
é lǎo。
xī diàn yíng fēi sī qiǎo rán,
gū dēng tiǎo jìn wèi chéng mián。
chí chí zhōng gǔ chū cháng yè,
gěng gěng xīng hé yù shǔ tiān。
yuān yāng wǎ lěng shuāng huá zhòng,
fěi cuì qīn hán shuí yǔ gòng。
yōu yōu shēng sǐ bié jīng nián,
hún bó bù céng lái rù mèng。
lín qióng dào shì hóng dū kè,
néng yǐ jīng chéng zhì hún bó。
wéi gǎn jūn wáng zhǎn zhuǎn sī,
suì jiào fāng shì yīn qín mì。
pái kōng yù qì bēn rú diàn,
shēng tiān rù dì qiú zhī biàn。
shàng qióng bì luò xià huáng quán,
liǎng chù máng máng jiē bù jiàn。
hū wén hǎi shàng yòu xiān shān,
shān zài xū wú piǎo miǎo jiān。
lóu gé líng lóng wǔ yún qǐ,
qí zhōng chuò yuē duō xiān zǐ。
zhōng yòu yī rén zì tài zhēn,
xuě fū huā mào cēncī shì。
jīn jué xī xiāng kòu yù jiōng,
zhuǎn jiào xiǎo yù bào shuāng chéng。
wén dào hàn jiā tiān zǐ shǐ,
jiǔ huá zhàng lǐ mèng hún jīng。
lǎn yī tuī zhěn qǐ pái huí,
zhū bó yín píng lǐ yí kāi。
yún bìn bàn piān xīn shuì jué,
huā guān bù zhěng xià táng lái。
fēng chuī xiān mèi piāo yáo jǔ,
yóu sì ní cháng yǔ yī wǔ。
yù róng jì mò lèi lán gān,
lí huā yī zhī chūn dài yǔ。
hán qíng níng dì xiè jūn wáng,
yī bié yīn róng liǎng miǎo máng。
zhāo yáng diàn lǐ '
ēn '
ài jué,
péng lāi gōng zhōng rì yuè cháng。
huí tóu xià wàng rén huán chù,
bù jiàn cháng '
ān jiàn chén wù。
wéi jiāng jiù wù biǎo shēn qíng,
diàn hé jīn chāi jì jiāng qù。
chāi liú yī gǔ hé yī shàn,
chāi bò huáng jīn hé fēn diàn。
dàn jiào xīn sì jīn diàn jiān,
tiān shàng rén jiān huì xiāng jiàn。
lín bié yīn qín zhòng jì cí,
cí zhōng yòu shì liǎng xīn zhī。
qī yuè qī rì cháng shēng diàn,
yè bàn wú rén sī yǔ shí。
zài tiān yuàn zuò bǐ yì niǎo,
zài dì yuàn wéi lián lǐ zhī。
tiān cháng dì jiǔ yòu shí jìn,
cǐ hèn mián mián wú jué qī。
China's Emperor, craving beauty that might shake an empire,
Was on the throne for many years, searching, never finding,
Till a little child of the Yang clan, hardly even grown,
Bred in an inner chamber, with no one knowing her,
But with graces granted by heaven and not to be concealed,
At last one day was chosen for the imperial household.
If she but turned her head and smiled, there were cast a hundred spells,
And the powder and paint of the Six Palaces faded into nothing.
...It was early spring. They bathed her in the FlowerPure Pool,
Which warmed and smoothed the creamy-tinted crystal of her skin,
And, because of her languor, a maid was lifting her
When first the Emperor noticed her and chose her for his bride.
The cloud of her hair, petal of her cheek, gold ripples of her crown when she moved,
Were sheltered on spring evenings by warm hibiscus curtains;
But nights of spring were short and the sun arose too soon,
And the Emperor, from that time forth, forsook his early hearings
And lavished all his time on her with feasts and revelry,
His mistress of the spring, his despot of the night.
There were other ladies in his court, three thousand of rare beauty,
But his favours to three thousand were concentered in one body.
By the time she was dressed in her Golden Chamber, it would be almost evening;
And when tables were cleared in the Tower of Jade, she would loiter, slow with wine.
Her sisters and her brothers all were given titles;
And, because she so illumined and glorified her clan,
She brought to every father, every mother through the empire,
Happiness when a girl was born rather than a boy.
...High rose Li Palace, entering blue clouds,
And far and wide the breezes carried magical notes
Of soft song and slow dance, of string and bamboo music.
The Emperor's eyes could never gaze on her enough-
Till war-drums, booming from Yuyang, shocked the whole earth
And broke the tunes of The Rainbow Skirt and the Feathered Coat.
The Forbidden City, the nine-tiered palace, loomed in the dust
From thousands of horses and chariots headed southwest.
The imperial flag opened the way, now moving and now pausing- -
But thirty miles from the capital, beyond the western gate,
The men of the army stopped, not one of them would stir
Till under their horses' hoofs they might trample those moth- eyebrows....
Flowery hairpins fell to the ground, no one picked them up,
And a green and white jade hair-tassel and a yellowgold hair- bird.
The Emperor could not save her, he could only cover his face.
And later when he turned to look, the place of blood and tears
Was hidden in a yellow dust blown by a cold wind.
... At the cleft of the Dagger-Tower Trail they crisscrossed through a cloud-line
Under Omei Mountain. The last few came.
Flags and banners lost their colour in the fading sunlight....
But as waters of Shu are always green and its mountains always blue,
So changeless was His Majesty's love and deeper than the days.
He stared at the desolate moon from his temporary palace.
He heard bell-notes in the evening rain, cutting at his breast.
And when heaven and earth resumed their round and the dragon car faced home,
The Emperor clung to the spot and would not turn away
From the soil along the Mawei slope, under which was buried
That memory, that anguish. Where was her jade-white face?
Ruler and lords, when eyes would meet, wept upon their coats
As they rode, with loose rein, slowly eastward, back to the capital.
...The pools, the gardens, the palace, all were just as before,
The Lake Taiye hibiscus, the Weiyang Palace willows;
But a petal was like her face and a willow-leaf her eyebrow –
And what could he do but cry whenever he looked at them?
...Peach-trees and plum-trees blossomed, in the winds of spring;
Lakka-foliage fell to the ground, after autumn rains;
The Western and Southern Palaces were littered with late grasses,
And the steps were mounded with red leaves that no one swept away.
Her Pear-Garden Players became white-haired
And the eunuchs thin-eyebrowed in her Court of PepperTrees;
Over the throne flew fire-flies, while he brooded in the twilight.
He would lengthen the lamp-wick to its end and still could never sleep.
Bell and drum would slowly toll the dragging nighthours
And the River of Stars grow sharp in the sky, just before dawn,
And the porcelain mandarin-ducks on the roof grow thick with morning frost
And his covers of kingfisher-blue feel lonelier and colder
With the distance between life and death year after year;
And yet no beloved spirit ever visited his dreams.
...At Lingqiong lived a Taoist priest who was a guest of heaven,
Able to summon spirits by his concentrated mind.
And people were so moved by the Emperor's constant brooding
That they besought the Taoist priest to see if he could find her.
He opened his way in space and clove the ether like lightning,
Up to heaven, under the earth, looking everywhere.
Above, he searched the Green Void, below, the Yellow Spring;
But he failed, in either place, to find the one he looked for.
And then he heard accounts of an enchanted isle at sea,
A part of the intangible and incorporeal world,
With pavilions and fine towers in the five-coloured air,
And of exquisite immortals moving to and fro,
And of one among them-whom they called The Ever True-
With a face of snow and flowers resembling hers he sought.
So he went to the West Hall's gate of gold and knocked at the jasper door
And asked a girl, called Morsel-of-Jade, to tell The Doubly- Perfect.
And the lady, at news of an envoy from the Emperor of China,
Was startled out of dreams in her nine-flowered, canopy.
She pushed aside her pillow, dressed, shook away sleep,
And opened the pearly shade and then the silver screen.
Her cloudy hair-dress hung on one side because of her great haste,
And her flower-cap was loose when she came along the terrace,
While a light wind filled her cloak and fluttered with her motion
As though she danced The Rainbow Skirt and the Feathered Coat.
And the tear-drops drifting down her sad white face
Were like a rain in spring on the blossom of the pear.
But love glowed deep within her eyes when she bade him thank her liege,
Whose form and voice had been strange to her ever since their parting –
Since happiness had ended at the Court of the Bright Sun,
And moons and dawns had become long in Fairy-Mountain Palace.
But when she turned her face and looked down toward the earth
And tried to see the capital, there were only fog and dust.
So she took out, with emotion, the pledges he had given
And, through his envoy, sent him back a shell box and gold hairpin,
But kept one branch of the hairpin and one side of the box,
Breaking the gold of the hairpin, breaking the shell of the box;
"Our souls belong together," she said, " like this gold and this shell –
Somewhere, sometime, on earth or in heaven, we shall surely
And she sent him, by his messenger, a sentence reminding him
Of vows which had been known only to their two hearts:
"On the seventh day of the Seventh-month, in the Palace of Long Life,
We told each other secretly in the quiet midnight world
That we wished to fly in heaven, two birds with the wings of one,
And to grow together on the earth, two branches of one tree."
Earth endures, heaven endures; some time both shall end,
While this unending sorrow goes on and on for ever.