永遇乐·京口北固亭怀古

 

To the tune of YongYuLe

Reminiscent the past at Beigu Tower of the capital's entrance

 

词/辛弃疾（宋代）  译/黎历

By Xin QiJi（Song Dynasty） /Tr. By Lily

 

 

永遇乐·京口北固亭怀古

 

千古江山，英雄无觅，孙仲谋处。

 

In this ancient land

A hero couldn’t be found

As Sun Zhongmou* as so grand

 

舞榭歌台，风流总被，雨打风吹去。

 

These pavilions and temples so gay

Where romance dances and singings say

Have been swept by wind and rain away

 

斜阳草树，寻常巷陌，人道寄奴曾住。

 

The ordinary lanes and paths sided  

By grass and trees in slant afterglow

Are told to be locales the emperor resided

 

想当年，金戈铁马，气吞万里如虎。

 

Reminiscing these days yore

With shining spears and armoured horses

He ruled to devour the vast land like a tiger in roar

 

元嘉草草，封狼居胥，赢得仓皇北顾。

 

In the dynasty of YuanJia* a hasty war to invade tartar

Is defeated before LangJuXu Mountain with many a martyr

The routed looks back north while fleeing to the border

 

四十三年，望中犹记，烽火扬州路。

 

Forty-three years have passed away

Looking back the central plains nowadays

I still remember the war flames on the tout way

 

可堪回首，佛狸祠下，一片神鸦社鼓。

 

How could I recall still

In the ruler’s shrine temple folks worship until

Crows peck the sacrificial food at will

 

凭谁问，廉颇老矣，尚能饭否?

 

And how would anybody ask more

If old LiangPu with hair hoar

Still has a good appetite as before

*, Sun Quan was Sun Zhongmou, the emperor of Kingdom Wu of The Period of Three Kingdoms (220-280 AD). He had occupied the south territory of Yangzi River.

  

译于是2018年2月11 日星期日

 

 

(无名氏译)

 

Yong Yu Yue

Thinking of the past at Beigu Pavilion in Jingkou

 

In this ancient land

What trace remains of Wu's brave king Sun Quan?

Towers and pavilions where girls danced and sang,

Your glory is swept away by wind and rain;

The slanting sunlight falls on grass and trees,

Small lanes, the quarters of the humble folk;

Yet here, they say, Liu Yu lived.

I think of the days gone by

When with gilded spear and iron-clad steed he charged

Like a tiger to swallow up vast territories.

 

In the days of Yuanjia

Hasty preparations were made

To march to the Langjuxu Mountains,

But the men of Song were routed from the north.

Now forty-three years have passed,

And looking north I remember

The beacon fires that blazed the way to Yangzhou;

Bitter memories these

Of sacred crows among the holy drums

In the Tartar emperor's temple.

Who will ask old Lian Po

If he still enjoys his food?

 

(无名氏译)

Overlooking the eternal presence of rivers and mountains

Never discovered again is the heroism once seen in Sun Zhongmo.

Those waterside dancing halls, singing podiums

And places of romantic interest have long been destroyed in storms.

At sunset, the verdure, trees and ordinary alleyways and paths,

Describe the locale where they say Jinu once resided.

Back in the days of armoured horses and metal halberds,

Imposing was their vigour that could thousands of miles prance like a tiger.

 

The emperor was indiscreet in granting a generous enfeoffment to a general,

Resulting in a northern expedition that went shockingly awry.

Now aged forty three,

I return to what I still remember well the Yangzhou avenues ablaze with lights.

Rather unbearable is the scenery at the Bili Shrine worshipping a northern king,

Flanked by sculptures of immortal ducks and temple drums.

Who should we dispatch to the great Han general, Lianpo, enquire,

Whether he still has his mighty appetite?