无题 / Untitled (To see each other...)

BY Li Shangyin
TRANSLATED BY Chloe Garcia Roberts
Chinese

相见时难别亦难，东风无力百花残。 / 春蚕到死丝方尽，蜡炬成灰泪始干。 / 晓镜但愁云鬓改，夜吟应觉月光寒。 / 蓬山此去无多路，青鸟殷勤为探看。

English

To see each other, difficult, to part, also difficult.
The east wind lacks force, a hundred flowers pale.

When spring’s silkworm arrives at death, its filaments have reached exhaustion.
Beeswax candles grey, then their tears begin to dry.

The mirror of dawn is only grieving the aging of your cloud mane.
Night incantations should feel moonlight’s cold.

There is not much road left to Penglai Mountain.
Bluebird, as much as in you lies, search out a glimpse for me.

 

Biography

李商隐（约812/813年 — 约858年），字义山，号玉溪生、樊南生。晚唐诗人。其诗构思风格独特，隐晦迷离，以无题诗著名，也有多首爱情诗为人传诵。

LI SHANGYIN (813-859) was a poet from the late Tang era. His works are famous for their lush and obscure imagery. During his lifetime, Li Shangyin held various posts as a low-level government official and though his poetry and prose were appreciated within certain literary circles, his status as one of the most important poets of his time was not recognized until after his death.

CHLOE GARCIA ROBERTS is a poet and translator living in the Boston area. Her poems, translations and criticism have appeared, or are forthcoming, in Poetry International, Zoland Poetry, and CutBank. She has received awards and grants from the Jerome Foundation, the Summer Literary Seminars, and the Vermont Studio Center. She is an editor at Zoland Poetry and associate curator of the Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard.

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