yíng mǔ piào shàng zuò cí mǔ shǒu zhōng xiàn,
yóu zǐ shēn shàng yī。
lín xíng mì mì féng,
yì kǒng chí chí guī。
shuí yán cùn cǎo xīn,
bào dé sān chūn huī。
The thread in the hands of a fond-hearted mother
Makes clothes for the body of her wayward boy;
Carefully she sews and thoroughly she mends,
Dreading the delays that will keep him late from home.
But how much love has the inch-long grass
For three spring months of the light of the sun?