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Shui Diao Ge Tou
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Shui Diao Ge Tou
                          --By Su Shi (Su Dongpo)

Will a moon so bright ever arise again?
Drink a cupful of wine and ask of the sky.
I don't know where the palace gate of heaven is,
Or even the year in which tonight slips by.
I want to return riding the whirl-wind! But I
Feel afraid that this heaven of jasper and jade
Lets in the cold, its palaces rear so high.
I shall get up and dance with my own shadow.
From life endured among men how far a cry!

Round the red pavilion
Slanting through the lattices
Onto every wakeful eye,
Moon, why should you bear a grudge, O why
Insist in time of separation on filling the sky?
Men know joy and sorrow, parting and reunion;
The moon lacks lustre, brightly shines; is all, is less.
Perfection was never easily come by.
Though miles apart, could men but live for ever
Dreaming they shared this moonlight endlessly!
Tr. A. Ayling & D. Mackintosh


水调歌头
                            苏东坡(北宋)

明月几时有?把酒问青天。
不知天上宫阙,今夕是何年?
我欲乘风归去,
又恐琼楼玉宇,高处不胜寒。
起舞弄清影,何似在人间?

转朱阁,低绮户,照无眠。
不应有恨,何事长向别时圆?
人有悲欢离合,月有阴晴圆缺,此事古难全。
但愿人长久,千里共婵娟。
 

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