上邪

上邪！

我欲与君相知，

长命无绝衰。

山无陵， 江水为竭，

冬雷震震， 夏雨雪，

天地合， 乃敢与君绝！

Oh with God as My Witness

Copyright©2011 by Hongyun Chen

Oh with God as my witness,

I want to love you,

And I will make my love last.

Until lofty mountains become flat,

Until billowy rivers dry up,

Until chilly winter thunderclaps roll,

Until snow falls through the scorching summer,

Until the sky and the earth interweave,

Only then would I dare let you go.

P.S. After I put the translation on www.chinagonet.com, many net friends provided valuable suggestions and also gave me the following three pieces of translation:

The Pledge 

Oh Heaven high 
I will love him forever till I die, 
Till mountains crumble, 
Rivers run dry, 
In Winter thumder rumble, 
In Summer snow fall far and righ, 
And the earth mingle with the sky, 
Not till then will my love die. 

许渊冲，1921年生，北京大学教授，翻译家，中译英六十余种，1999年曾被提名为诺贝尔文学奖侯选人。

Ah, 

I'm burning to be one with yah 
Forever may it last 
Even the mountains tumble 
and the rivers gone dry 
Should the thunders shock the winter 
and snow blank the summer 
Let the heaven and earth collapse 
Dare I bid you bye!

-Taiping Wang

SHANG YA! 
I want to be your friend 
Forever and ever without break or decay. 
When the hills are all flat 
And the rivers are all dry, 
When it lightens and thunders in winter, 
When it rains and snows in summer, 
When Heaven and Earth mingle - 
Not till then will I part from you. 

--Arthur Waley (Chinese Poems)