Sad Old Days Poem by East Sea Fairy Xing Yi

By LI YuTranslated by East Sea fairy

Hard my thoughts to distract
from the raveled sleaves of the sad old days
and too easily to the unhappy past my mind is backed
each and every time before my eyes the autumnal sight displays
and my heart it weighs,
so I just let the mossy moss and the fallen leaves in chaos
cover up my yard ground always,
which the autumn winds boss,
and the red curtain hung down all time long for men find setting foot in it dross.

As a Monarch of a fallen territory,
I've buried all the things of my former life as a sovereign
in the overgrowth of the weeds entirely.
Serene is the heaven
in the chilly cold of even.
The sky Cynthia's silvery carriage is traveling across.
Eagerly I want to see again the faraway Jinling, my royal garden.
My former palace, whose reflections in the clear Qinhuai River is never a loss,
remains deserted now without its boss.