Autumn Thoughts By The Dresser - Variation II

A newer version...  The second and third stanzas were inspired at later dates.

https://jeffinous.blogspot.com/2020/07/autumn-thoughts-by-dresser.html

01黄昏斜照妝台塵 The evening light slanting upon the dresser’s dust,
02默語對望鑒中人 And silent words staring into the bronze mirror’s person.
03不意簪手空處摁 Unwittingly, pressing at the emptiness where the hairpin once was,
04何去步搖欲重問 ”Where To? ”, the danglers needing to ask once more.

05浮光蹉跎醉夜星 The flickering rays, squandering away into the starry night of the drunkard,
06掠影盜取春夢辰 And passing shadows, robbing the hours from a bygone spring dream.
07長門寂寞淚滴常 In the Long Gate Palace loneliness and dripping tears are the norms,
08未央歌舞酒迎新 And at the Zenith-Not-Reached Palace, wine and song to welcome the newly favoured.

09嬌寵慣養卅載餘 For just over thirty years a pampered life of every want,
10無情今落廿年辛 And now twenty years of cold and neglect.
11若知勿願十里紅 If known, unwillingly to journey that ten miles of red,
12來世莫要九五生 In the next life, nary an imperial life I want. 

1.The dying rays of the sun.

2. Imagining a younger self in the mirror.

3. The direct translation is “Unwittingly, the hairpin hand is pressing into emptiness”.

4. Swaying hair ornaments used by Chinese women to accentuate their movements and in turn make the danglers sway delicately like willow branches in the breeze. Another way of interpretation is “Once more the need to ask: Where did the danglers go?”. This is a poignant question as there is no place to go in this golden cage prison.

5-6. The first two characters from these lines form the idiom, “浮光掠影” to mean “superficial”, “cursory” or “grasping at straws”.

7.Name of a Han Dynasty Palace. It was situated outside the imperial palace. It was given to the Emperor Han Wu Ti by his aunt to bribe him for looking the other way from her scandals. She was instrumental in clearing his way to the throne. Later, it became the “cold palace” where the no longer favoured reside. The most famous occupant was the Emperor’s first empress, the daughter of the said aunt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Jiao

8.The main palace where the emperor resides. Not-yet-reached-the zenith is an important concept during the Han Dynasty. It means forever flourishing since once the zenith is reached, the next step is “descending to decay”. This line refers to the Emperor’s second Empress, Wei Zifu, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wei_Zifu. The direct translation of the line is “At the Weiyang Palace, song, dance and wine to welcome the new”

9. The commoner expression is 嬌生慣養 literally, “daintily born, reared up in every whim” but I chose 寵 “to favour” to emphasize 嬌, the name of the deposed empress. She enjoyed 31 years of luxury until she was deposed.

10. For twenty years she lived in the golden gilded cage, a virtual prisoner until her death.

11. When she was told of the marriage to Han Wu Ti, she would rather die than to marry him. In the end, she exacted an exorbitant price that she thought even the imperial household would feel the pinch. On her wedding route to the palace, continuous red silk was to be laid and both sides similarly to shield her from the public. However, the scheming mothers would not let such a trifle matter to thwart their plans. Of course, this ten miles is a poetic exaggeration. Even so, for a single mile, the cost is still exorbitant.

12. The exact translation is “nine-five life”. Odd numbers belong the Yang (maleness) while even numbers are Yin members. The “nine-five” is short for 九五之尊, “the most honoured 9 and 5”. In a 3 X 3 square, 9 is the highest odd digit while 5 occupies the central position. Hence, these positions are monopolized by the emperor and by extension to mean “imperial”.

Friday, July 19, 2020