shí '
èr lóu zhōng jìn xiǎo zhuāng,
wàng xiān lóu shàng wàng jūn wáng。
suǒ xián jīn shòu lián huán lěng,
shuǐ dī tóng lóng zhòu lòu cháng。
yún jì bà shū hái duì jìng,
luó yī yù huàn gèng tiān xiāng。
yáo kuī zhèng diàn lián kāi chù,
páo kù gōng rén sǎo yù chuáng。
In twelve chambers the ladies, decked for the day,
Peer afar for their lord from their Fairy-View Lodge;
The golden toad guards the lock on the door-chain,
And the bronze-dragon water-clock drips through the morning
Till one of them, tilting a mirror, combs her cloud of hair
And chooses new scent and a change of silk raiment;
For she sees, between screen-panels, deep in the palace,
Eunuchs in court-dress preparing a bed.