Weltschmerz

1 高樓芙蓉西畔眠 By the tall mansions, west bank lotuses lay in sleep,
2 醉翁醒後月當前 Awakened from his stupor, the old man looked at the moon.
3 欲訴萬世情冤深 Deep grievances of a thousand lifetimes, he would bemoan,
4 寒光總是對無言 But In the end, the cold light gave no reply.

5 流星滾滾回岸無 Furious are the meteor showers but in the end, there's no return,
6 五更時份金雞現 And when the fifth hour approaches, the golden rooster will appear.
7 舉頭問天天不應 Head a lifted to ask Heaven but reticent it remained,
8 低眉歎盡碎心田 Brows lowered in sighs of a shattered heart.

1 In the old days, 芙蓉 also refers to lotuses as well. Nowadays, it refers to hibiscus only.

2 Obviously a servant or the gate keeper out on the grounds. No self-respecting Chinese nobleman/gentleman worth his salt would camp out in the open when his home is at hand.

3 An exaggeration.

4 The reflected moonlight from the lake, implied by the “west bank” in the first line.

5 Like an upturned bowl of water, what is spilt can never be returned to the bowl.

6 The Fifth Watch - between 4am – 6am. In the old days, special watchman was hired to be an “alarm clock”, telling time every two hours by striking his bamboo cylinder and gong according to the time. The rhythm varies from place to place and usually is accompanied by the watchman saying something, “like be careful fires” etc to warn the neighborhood of nocturnal dangers.

The God of the Solar Hours, 昂日星官 regulates the hours of the day or attends to the rising morning sun. As such, his true form is a golden rooster. He is also one of the officials in the 28 constellations. In the poem, the golden rooster refers to the rising sun.

8 Though 夢 can be used as a verb, “to dream” but then it makes no sense as the person is now awake as implied in the 2nd line. Thus, it is an adjective. 低眉 is lifted from Po Chu-i’s “Ballad of the Pipa”, 低眉信手續續彈

Tuesday, August 10, 2021