Laijon Liu (06/27/1975 / Dalian, China)

Li Shang Yin: Carved Harp
By Li Shang Yin of Tang Dynasty
Translated by Laijon Liu 20090303

Oh the fifty silky strings of my carved harp,
Each string and pole echoing my prime years.
Master Zhuang was lost in a butterfly dream, (1)
Spring hope of King Wang told by a cuckoo.(2)
Moon glows over sea, as a pearl sheds its tears;
Sapphire field below the sun, gives warm mist.
Such affection is only for me to recall,
Because at that time I was already lost.

Note:
This is one of most beautiful poems that leads Chinese obscure poetry category. No one in history truly knew what the poet talked about. But this poem is just beautiful in an obscure sense. Readers can only feel it’s about a past love, a warm memory, something poet realized that a beautiful thing happened to him but he never grasped at that time, but now lost.
(1) Master Zhuang was Zhuang Zi who was a philosopher. One early morning or night he dreamed he was a butterfly, so he floated happily and forgot he was Zhuangzi.
(2) King Wang, actually his officially title was Emperor Shu, named Du Yue. The mythology about him was that he became a cuckoo after he died in spring, so the cuckoo sounded really sorrowful in spring, liked mourning and even some blood like liquid spit out from the bird.

Chinese:
錦 瑟
李 商 隱

錦 瑟 無 端 五 十 絃 ， 一 絃 一 柱 思 華 年 。
莊 生 曉 夢 迷 蝴 蝶 ， 望 帝 春 心 託 杜 鵑 。
滄 海 月 明 珠 有 淚 ， 藍 田 日 暖 玉 生 煙 。
此 情 可 待 成 追 憶 ， 只 是 當 時 已 惘 然 。