Tomorrow (10/3) is one of my favorite traditional Chinese holidays - the moon festival -- when friends and families get together to appreciate the biggest full moon, drink tea, eat mooncakes, and to celebrate the change of seasons from summer to autumn.
There is a beautiful Chinese poem from the Sung Dynasty that I like. To share with my friends and family who are far away from me, is Shui Diao Ge Tou by Su Shi.
水調歌頭 蘇軾
明月幾時有，把酒問青天？不知天上宮闕，今夕是何年。
我欲乘風歸去，唯恐瓊樓玉宇，高處不勝寒。起舞弄清影，何似在人間。
轉朱閣，低綺戶。照無眠 。不應有恨，何事長向別時圓？
人有悲歡離合，月有陰晴圓缺，此事古難全。但願人長久，千里共嬋娟。
My own translation of the last five sentences --
Just like how the moon changes its shape all the time, it is only a law of nature that people change between being happy and being sad, getting together and falling apart.
I shall only wish for health and long life, for us to look at the very same moon that touches our hearts, and for us to be together that way.
With this blog, and upon the moon, I wish you health and happiness, and yummy mooncakes.
5 comments:
dear wonderland alice: 人圆月圆 幸福美满！
Alice, thank you for the poetic and beautiful translation. Happy Moon Festival!
Alice, thank you for the wonderful wishes.....unfortunately a small typhoon brought lots of rain so I ended up staying home watching TV....ha ha ha.
Alice, greetings from HK (where I am for the holidays). good job on the site and the translation of the poem. Well done, nice and touchy feely. :) All the best, and wish you'll be coming to BJ more often.
Amy, Jill, Frieda, and Peter,
Thank you for liking my translation. There is a beautiful song using the Chinese poem as the lyrics, too. The original singer was Teresa Teng. Next time if we do KTV together, remember to order this song!
Miss you, Alice
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