高卧南斋时,开帷月初吐。
清辉澹水木,演漾在窗户。
荏苒几盈虚,澄澄变今古。
美人清江畔,是夜越吟苦。
千里共如何,微风吹兰杜。
Lying on a high seat in the south study,
We have lifted the curtain-and we see the rising moon
Brighten with pure light the water and the grove
And flow like a wave on our window and our door.
It will move through the cycle, full moon and then crescent again,
Calmly, beyond our wisdom, altering new to old.
...Our chosen one, our friend, is now by a limpid river --
Singing, perhaps, a plaintive eastern song.
He is far, far away from us, three hundred miles away.
And yet a breath of orchids comes along the wind.