Su Dongpo: In Jingkou Receive Some Hometown Letters

In Jingkou Receive Some Hometown Letters: (Butterflies Love Flowers)

京 口 得 乡 书： 蝶 恋 花

雨 后 春 容 清 更 丽
只 有 离 人，幽 恨 终 难 洗。
北 固 山 前 三 面 水
碧 琼 梳 拥 青 螺 髻。

一 纸 乡 书 来 万 里
问 我 何 年，真 个 成 归 计。
白 首 送 春 拚 一 醉
东 风 吹 破 千 行 泪。

Jing Kou De Xiang Shu

Yu hou chun rong qing geng li
Zhi you li ren you hen zhong nan xi.
Bei gu shan qian san mian shui
Bi qiong shu yong qing luo ji.

Yi zhi xiang shu lai wan li
Wen wo he nian zhen ge cheng gui ji.
Bai shou song chun pin yi zui
Dong feng chui po qian xing lei.

In Jingkou Receive Some Hometown Letters: (Butterflies Love Flowers)

Late spring rain, still more beautiful
But for people away from home
There is deep regret and homesick difficulties.
Northern Gushan surrounded on three sides by water
Like my wife’s exquisite green jade comb
Clasping a black coil of hair.

One page, hometown letter arrives from many miles away
Asks me what year will I really be able to return and be together.
With white hair I send off the spring
Completely drunk, east wind blows, splitting apart my one thousand tears.

Notes:

(Butterflies Love Flowers): The name of the poem’s melody.

Jingkou: Near the current city of Zhengjiang, Jiangsu Province.

Gushan: Small hill on the Bai causeway, West Lake, Hangzhou.