To the Tune "Song of River City"
Ten years--dead and living, two parted by a vast dimness.
I never think about you,
Yet forgetting is very hard.
A lonely grave a thousand miles away--
I have nowhere to speak of my misery.
Even if we met, you wouldn't know me:
My face covered with dust,
Temples like frost.
Last night in a mysterious dream I was suddenly home.
By the window of the little room
Your were combing your hair and making up.
Facing each other wordlessly,
With only a thousand lines of tears streaming down.
I suspect your heart breaks year after year
On moonlit nights
On the hill covered with stubby pines.
--Su Shi, translation by Burton Watson.
Because it reminded me of certain late wives in a certain manga series I fangirl like nobody's business.
High art, low art...who can tell the difference these days?
I never think about you,
Yet forgetting is very hard.
A lonely grave a thousand miles away--
I have nowhere to speak of my misery.
Even if we met, you wouldn't know me:
My face covered with dust,
Temples like frost.
Last night in a mysterious dream I was suddenly home.
By the window of the little room
Your were combing your hair and making up.
Facing each other wordlessly,
With only a thousand lines of tears streaming down.
I suspect your heart breaks year after year
On moonlit nights
On the hill covered with stubby pines.
--Su Shi, translation by Burton Watson.
Because it reminded me of certain late wives in a certain manga series I fangirl like nobody's business.
High art, low art...who can tell the difference these days?