Into the water ink had slipped, traversing a pond of
blue-white porcelain;
Taking evening’s scarlet hue, I picked my bamboos and set
for home;
A lazy breeze whiffed by, burying a floor of mulberry and
hemp;
With a kasaya donned, my reminiscence had been laid to rest.
十里桃花待嫁的年华
凤冠的珍珠挽进头发
檀香拂过玉镯弄轻纱
空留一盏芽色的清茶
Peach blossom bloomed in three miles length, in years of
youth, a marriageable age;
Pearls from the bridal headdress gently tucked into my hair;
Sweeping past was sandalwood scent, as jade bangles teased
the soft yarn worn;
Alas, only a little cup of tea remained.
倘若我心中的山水你眼中都看到
我便一步一莲花祈祷
怎知那浮生一片草岁月催人老
风月花鸟一笑尘缘了
If your eyes could perceive the landscape of my heart,
With every lotus step I’ll pray for your sake;
It’s regrettable, the plights of mortals, lives akin to a
field of grass, aging made haste by the passing years;
Let it be then, superfluities like the wind, the moon, the
flowers, the birds; with a careless smile, we draw closure to our mortal ties.
---
Footnotes:
1. Li = 500m
10 Li (十里) = 5000 meters = ~3 miles
2. 芽色– I’m not
sure what exactly does this mean. 芽 means sprout, or a tender shoot,
basically young plants. Since it’s used to describe tea, I’m
guessing it’s somewhere between a light green color and the color of
straw? Anyway, I omitted that phrase from
the translation above.
Translator’s notes:
So yeah, it’s another one of those
it’s-pretty-vague-so-just-enjoy-the-imagery type of lyrics. (Either that or I’m not able to comprehend or appreciate them fully.) I’ve rendered quite a lot of my
own interpretations and word preferences to make the translated language ring
better, so take them with a grain of salt. It may not be completely accurate,
but it’s fun when I try to make them sound nice in English.
(c) 八卦阵中迷途 (Lost in the BaGua formation/maze/labyrinth) – events happened after battle of Xiaoting/YiLing, where Lu Xun’s armies were trapped by ZhuGe Liang’s maze according to The Romance of Three Kingdom. This is likely fictitious, involving sorcery and all that jazz. Though, the historical ZheGe Liang was good at army formations.
2. 红颜薄命– original meaning goes along the lines of “fair ladies often suffer tragic fates”.
Commentary
Whew. This one took me quite a while. I love the music and the Three Kingdom references. Couldn't get tired of it. The lyrics are vague, and their meaning hard to translate in whole, so I injected some of my own interpretations (also for a better flow of the lyric translations).
The clips in the video is from a TV drama series “Nirvana in Fire”. I think the editing work is excellent for bringing out the epic feel of this song.
The streets were thick with the essence of spring that year
We drove our horses together in the dream-like mist of rain
Sheltered under the eaves
I gazed into a pair of deep set eyes
It was like the mountain breeze laced with fine
feathery snow.
雨丝微凉，
风吹过暗香朦胧。
一时心头悸动，似你温柔剑锋，
过处翩若惊鸿。
Threads of rain fell cool upon the skin
Shrouded by the subtle sweet scent in the wind
A sudden shudder struck my heart, like the gentle dance of
your blade
Whirling past with the graceful flair of geese taking
flight.
[Chorus] 是否情字写来都空洞，一笔一划斟酌着奉送，
甘愿卑微换个笑容，
或沦为平庸。
Is it true that words of love ultimately ring hollow,
weighing miserly offerings with its every stroke
Humbling oneself just for another's smile
Or be doomed in obscurity
而你撑伞拥我入怀中，
一字一句誓言多慎重。
你眼中有柔情千种，
如脉脉春风，冰雪也消融。
You took me in your embrace, under the umbrella you held
How solemn was every single word in your promise
Myriad forms of doting kindness resided in your eyes
Akin to the murmuring spring’s breeze, melting away frost
and snow.
后来谁家喜宴重逢，
佳人在侧，烛影摇红。
灯火缱绻，
映照一双，如画颜容，
宛如豆蔻枝头温柔的旧梦。
Later came our reunion at a banquet
A fair lady by your side, while red candles cast wavering shadows
Their soft, lingering lights
Reflected handsome visages out of an artist’s fantasy
Like the pleasant old dream perched upon the branches of my
youth
对面不识，
恍然间思绪翻涌。
望你白衣如旧，神色几分冰冻，
谁知我心惶恐？
You graced me with no signs of recognition
A sudden turmoil stirred in me
Your robe, white as ever, but you, shades colder with
indifference
Who could fathom my terror within?
[Chorus] 也许我应该趁醉装疯，
借你怀抱留一抹唇红。
再将旧事轻歌慢诵，
任旁人惊动。
Perhaps I should have feigned drunken insanity
Lended your embrace, left upon it a red mark with my lips
Then sing, in slow beats, our story, our history
And let onlookers startle and gasp as they will.
可我只能假笑扮从容，
侧耳听那些情深意重。
不去看你熟悉脸孔，
只默默饮酒，多无动于衷。
But all I managed were false smiles and forced graces
While listening to those loving exchanges within earshot
I avoided your familiarity
and sipped wine in silence; you see how unmoved I am?
山门外，雪拂过白衣，又在指尖消融；
负长剑，试问江湖偌大，该何去何从？
今生至此，像个笑话一样，自己都嘲讽，
一厢情愿，有始无终。
Beyond the door, atop the mountain, snowflakes swept past my
white robe, then dissolved on my fingertips
Armed with a long sword, I asked, amidst this big, wide
world, where ought I go?
To have turned into a joke that even I myself jeer at
It had always been my wishful longings, cursed with a
beginning without an end.
若你早与他人两心同，
何苦惹我错付了情衷。
难道看我失魂落魄，你竟然心动？
If your heart had been long bound with another
Why entice me to misplace mine
Had it been my helplessness in your presence that
drew you in?
所幸经年漂浮红尘中，
这颗心已是千疮百孔。
怎惧你以薄情为刃，添一道裂缝？
又不会痛。
I count myself fortunate for the years wandering this mortal world
For this heart has borne wounds in hundreds and thousands
Do I fear that heartless blade you wield, adding only one to
the many?
Not that it hurts at all.
不如将往事埋在风中，
以长剑为碑，以霜雪为冢。
此生若是错在相逢，
求一个善终。
Why not bury the past in the wind
Let my sword be my headstone, and snow build my burial mound
If it was a wrong for us to have met one another
I can only pray for a kindly end.
孤身打马南屏旧桥边过，
恰逢山雨来时雾蒙蒙。
想起那年伞下轻拥，
就像躺在桥索之上，做了一场梦。
梦醒后跌落，粉身碎骨，无影亦无踪。
Alone, I rode past the old bridge of that southern town
Right when mountain rains raised its cloudy mist
I recalled that gentle embrace beneath the umbrella
Like a dream conjured as I lie atop the bridge
To which I’ve awoken from before falling off, shatter to
dust, and vanish without a trace
***
Translator's note and update:
Compared to my previous translations, I've taken greater
artistic liberties for this one, and likely for any upcoming ones (if any...
life and many commitments get in the way). In other words, if I feel that rigid
translations with the exact meaning preserved come across awkwardly, I'll tweak
them in favor of a more poetic bend, and do my best to preserve the tone of the
lyrics. I take this as a sort of practice tinkering with words and language.
I will also be taking a more casual approach to this blog,
and upload mostly on a whim. Unfortunately, I'm not able to do footnotes and
pinyin as before, as I have very little time to spare. Anyhow, I'll be glad if
anyone find this useful or enjoyable.
Thank you.
EDIT (28/5/18): I've decided to update and improve this translation, since this is one song I love and keep returning to. I hope it's clearer and flows better!
*As usual, I claim no credit for everything other than the
translations
Original posted on：http://yc.5sing.com/2281920.html From the album by 晃儿 – 三千世界 (Three Thousand Worlds) 作/编曲//Music：又又 (You you) 填词/Lyrics：Vagary 演唱/Vocals：慕寒 (Mu Han)，晃儿 (Huang’er) 混缩/Mix and compress：Allen
一十六载不曾闲，篱外棠花沁骨甜。
——对影问花开何愿？
“愿岁岁盛放，照翩翩少年。”
——题记
For sixteen years never have I been idling, the sweetness of Kerria
flowers[1] beyond the garden seeps even into the bones.
——Facing the
shadows, I asked, for what the flowers blossom?
“The flowers wish to bloom year by year, to shine at the handsome youth.”
Yào rú hé wàng què zhāo mù huáng quán xià / tái yǎn shí shào guāng yǐ xū
huà
How should I sit idly reminiscing old years; as the mist of evening
broke the flowering branch
How should I forget [the one] residing in the netherworld[2]
beneath, for dawn and dusk; as I lift my eyes golden times have faded into a mere
mirage[3]
Nǐ yí bù tà jìn cǎn lié / xiào róng què yī jiù wú xié
旧时山野月下蝴蝶含笑一瞥
Jiù shí shān yě / yuè xià hú dié / hán xiào yì piě
A restless journey returning home, the broken moon condensed in the sky,
the footprints that passed my eyes, was illuminated by the extravagantly white
moonlight.
You took a step into great tragedy, yet your smile remained innocent
In the past, at the countryside, with the butterfly under the moon, [I
remember that you] peered at me with a smile in your eyes
Nǐ yí bù tà jìn cǎn lié / xiào róng què yī jiù wú xié
旧时山野月下蝴蝶含笑一瞥
Jiù shí shān yě / yuè xià hú dié / hán xiào yì piě
A restless journey returning home, the broken moon condensed in the sky, the footprints that passed my eyes, was illuminated by the extravagantly white moonlight.
You took a step into great tragedy, yet your smile remained innocent
In the past, at the countryside, with the butterfly under the moon, [I remember that you] peered at me with a smile in your eyes
慕寒：最真的心
Zuì zhēn de xīn
晃儿：最热的血
Zuì rè de xiě
慕寒：太暖的人
Tài nuǎn de rén
晃儿：太狠的劫
Tài hěn de jié
The truest of hearts,
The hottest of blood,
A person too warm,
Yet a calamity too harsh.
慕寒：就这样行到终结
Jiù zhè yàng xiáng dào zhōng jié
晃儿：就这样冷如霜雪
Jiù zhè yàng lěng rú shuāng xuě
合：争与不争从来无解
Zhēng yǔ bù zhēng cóng lái wú jiě
合：花开为谢
Huā kāi wèi xiè
Just like that, [you] walked to the end
Just like that, [I] turned cold as snow[7]
To contend or not to contend, there never was a resolve
2.“黄泉” literally
means “Sulphur fountain”, which is equivalent to the English term “netherworld”
where people believe the deceased reside.
3.“虚化” can be
translated to “becoming hollow/empty/unreal”.
4.The bridge to the underworld is termed “奈何桥”or “Naihe Bridge”, and it has origins from
Taoism beliefs. I’m not too sure what the lyrics states there exactly, as it
says “crossing the bridge obliquely”, but the idea of it, in my opinion, seems
to be to avoid death.
5.“陇头”(Long tou)
is apparently another word for “塞外”, referring to the land beyond the Great Wall in the far north.
7.This song is related to a story for the album, and there
are 2 main characters in this chapter. I still can’t confirm which character’s
parts are Mu Han and Huang’er singing, so I added the pronouns based on my own
guesses. The “I” & “you” may be the other way round. I’ll see if I can find
time to translate the rest of the stories and the other related songs in this
album.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than the pinyin annotations and
translations.
Hi there, it's Speck here. I decided to write the introduction after publishing 3
entries because I think if I spent all that time with an intro without any actual
content on my blog yet that’ll be pretty, well, underwhelming. As the
name of the blog implies, this is a blog dedicated to translate classical style
modern Chinese songs. These songs are not mainstream, even in the international Chinese-speaking communities at
present, especially outside mainland China. But my hopes are that my effort is
able to bring light to people who don't understand the language but happens to
be interested in this part of Chinese popular culture.
I am in no way a linguistic
expert, but a mere enthusiast. My command of both English and Chinese is, I
hope, enough to make decent translations. (At
least then people can understand what the songs are about.) To note, Google and Baidu are my best friends on this matter.
Many classical themed Chinese
songs have rather elaborate and eloquent lyrics, hence increasing the
difficulty of translation. Many concepts in Chinese culture and language cannot
be translated into
English wholesomely.
My main goal is to bring out the
original meaning of the lyrics as much as possible, whilst trying to make it
flow smoothly in English (with rhymes and all). The loss of meaning in
translation however, to an extent, is inevitable. But I will do my best within
my abilities to minimize that.
Discussions are welcomed, as I am
only an amateur, and I may misunderstand the lyrics, use unsuitable phrases, make
grammatical errors etc. If there are any mistakes, do point them
out. I won't bite ;)
As for updates... You see, this
idea of mine is sort of a one-fine-day-suddenly-feel-like-doing-fun-stuff
thing. The big problem is that my semester is starting soon, and I can expect a
really, REALLY tight schedule. I don't know if I am able to squeeze much time
out. At the moment I am aiming to publish at least one song per month. [It's
quite a bit of work; don't even know if that’s
achievable...] *cross fingers*
I
MAY take requests, but it is VERY tentative, due to aforementioned reasons.
Also,
a disclaimer: I don’t claim to own anything regarding to the songs I post on
this blog except the pinyin annotations and translations. If there happens to
be any violation on copyright or anything of that sort, do let me know.
Once again, thank you for
visiting my blog. Even if the translations are useful for just one person, I'd be very happy about that. Hope you enjoy the content put
forth!
