Translations
Ma bergère non légere
My shepherdess not light in love made me feeling good everyday. I love her, she loves me, through the fields where we take sweet steps together.
Across the plain without much difficulty, we put to the same flock our little sheep. Then at ease, I kiss her. Her beautiful breast, her ruddy mouth, and her pretty nipples.
If I raise my knees on the strike, her skirt so high that one can see below: In fury she screams and bites me. And then in a very short time we agree.
We pass our life without envy, charming our worries with happy songs. None of the cities where the girls pay no attention to lovers who for her lead to death.
Amour victorieux
Victorious love returns to the heavens full of infinite glory, After having injured more, these shepherds are incensed with arrows of Parthenia.
This child of Cypris makes this disdainful one sighs after the contempts, And the most captive are those who serves his empire.
Bold shepherds, believe that this frivolous god runs after the rebels, And that without profiting one thinks to avoid him since he carries wings.
Donc ceste merveille des cieux
So this wonder of heaven for what she is dear to my eyes will always be far away. And my impatient love, testified by so many tears, will never get its return.
What fires, what dragons, what bulls, what horror of new monsters, And what power of charms would keep that even to hell I would not go with weapons to break your chains and your irons?
Thus with a dying voice Alcandre bore witness to the silence of the woods Of deep sorrows and his colorless face made it known That his complaints were less than his pain.
Orante, who for the zephyrs received the fatal sighs of such a faithful passion Of heart outraged by the same boredom
Sworn that if he died for her, she would die with him.
Quoy que l’on me puisse dire
Whatever maybe said to me that love is nothing but martyrdom
Where one dies a hundred times a day, I would rather be tired of living than of loving and following the pleasure of love.
Without the sweetness of its flames our bodies would be to our souls a very boring abode, Is it not dying to live without loving and without following the pleasure of love?
And even when hard death opens my tomb I want it to be engraved around it
That I was rather tired of living than of loving and following the pleasures of love.
Qui veut chaser une migraine
Who wants to chase away a migraine just have to always drink good stuff. And keep the table full with servings and with ham.
Water does nothing but rot the lungs, Drink, drink, companions, Empty the glass and we will fill it.
The wine tasted by this good father who turned out to be such a handsome boy, Makes us talk with grammar and makes us learn without lessons. Water does nothing …..
His daughters drinks a lot in a cave that swells their breasts
Showing that a cyropt of tavern passes that of a doctor.
Water does nothing …..
Let’s all drink well, to whet our appetites, And let the one among us die who will deny his companion.
Water does nothing …..
French translations: Google Translate, French to English, Jan 15, 2025, Google LLC
Longing for Home
The willows have turned to green, Just past the solar term of Qingming, And I stand silent by the fence, alone. How can I bear the cuckoo’s call, Echoing just beyond the wall
“Why not return home?”
Nostalgia stirs ten thousand thoughts, Overwhelming, lost and fraught.
I ask the fallen petals near,
“Are you drifting south on these gentle streams?”
Oh, if only I could follow them there.
translations by Morton Wan
Flower or not Flower
Flower, yet not a flower, Mist, yet not mist –It comes at midnight, gone by dawn, Arrives like a fleeting springtime dream, Departs like elusive morning clouds.
Rose’s Three Wishes
translated by Mei Zhong
Roses bloom by the green fence line. I wish the brutal storm would curb its envy and leave me untouched. I wish the tender tourists, filled with longing, would let me be, unplucked. I wish muy delicate beauty could linger, to stay with me, forever.
translated by Mei Zhong
How Can I Help but Think of You?
Wisps of clouds drift along the sky, A breeze blows across the earth, Ah! A gentle wind brushes my hair, How can I help but think of you?
The moonlight is enamored with the ocean, The ocean is enamored with the moonlight, Ah! This honey-like silver night How can I help but think of you?
Fallen petals float slowly along the water, Fishes swim leisurely under the water, Ah! Swallow, what are you saying? How can I help but think of you?
Withered tree sways in the cold wind, Wildfire burns in the twilight.
Ah! The fading glow of the sunset in the west, How can I help but think of you?
Crossing the Indian Ocean
The dome of heaven bends over the sea, Dark waters cradle a lone boat.
translated by Addi Liu
No mountains in sight – Only clouds at the far edge of the sky. No trees, only gulls, over the shoreless waves. Where is Africa? Where is Europe?
My beautiful, beloved homeland, now fades behind me!
I’m afraid to look back, dare not to looking back. A sudden gust – snow-white waves crash upon the bow.
translated by Morton Wan
Listening to the Rain
Having come to the north nearly half a year, Today, for the first time, I heard the rain all night. Had the rain falling in the south, How many new bamboo shoots would sprout in my old garden?
translated by Chengxiang Lin
Parting Thoughts
After experiencing the roaring ocean I scoff at other bodies of water, After admiring the mighty fog on Wu Mountain I dismiss the plainness of clouds. Even if I’m strolling through ten thousand flowers I won’t be bothered to look back at you; Perhaps it’s because I’m cultivated, or perhaps you’re just not worthy.
translated by Adrian Wong
Since When?
Since when I lost my voice
Butterflies lost the pollen
Since when I lost my voice
The setting sun lost the dusk
Since when I lost my voice
Results lost the causes
Since when I lost my voice
Balance lost the center of gravity
Since when I lost my voice
East, west, and north lost the south
Since when I lost my voice
Love and hate lost the reason
Since when I lost my voice
Fingers lost its prints
Eyes lost the soul
Queries to the Moon
[Su Tung-Po: Beneath the Moonlight]
When will the moon be bright and clear?
translated by Stephen Ng
Raising my wine glass, I ask the dark blue sky. In the palaces of the heaven, which season is it now?
Much as I want to ride the wind for the palaces, I fear the pagodas of jade and mansions of crystal, Which are unbearably lofty and cold.
Dancing with my moon lit shadow transcends me out of the mundane world.
The turning moonbeam is shed on the rouge mansion, Hanging upon the window, shining over the sleepless. The moon should have no resentment, But why is it always full in parting moments?
Man has their time of sorrow and joy, parting and reunions. Moon has its time of dimness and brightness, waning and waxing. Imperfections pervade all since the beginning of time.
May we be blessed with longevity.
Even though we are miles apart, we can still share the full moon. translated by Kai-Young Chan
I Live at the Head of Yangtze River , you live at its end; Day in, day out, I think of you but see you not, Except the same Yangtze that we both drink from. The time this water finally stops flowing is when my sorrow comes to its end. All I wish is your heart to be the same as mine – forever to be true to our love. translated by Ding Xiang Warner
Mighty River Flowing East
The mighty river flows eastward, waves sweeping away, Heroes rising through ages past. Where the fortress once stood to the west, they say, Young Zhou Yu fought at Red Cliffs’ blaze.
Jagged rocks pierce the sky, Roaring waves crash against the shore, Foaming up like a thousand heaps of snow. The landscape is like a painted scroll, Where heroes step from legend’s edge.
I recall young Gongjin (Zhou Yu) in his prime, Newly wed to fair Xiao Qiao, His noble presence, noble air. Wielding his feathered fan, donning his silk headdress. He laughed, as enemy ships turned to ashes and smoke, Scattered like dust in the air.
I wander these ancient lands in thought, Wonder if I ought to be scorned for my sentimental ways that grayed my hair in younger days. Life drifts by like a dream – So I raise my chalice to the moon upon the mighty river. adapted from translation by Mei Zhong