Three Chinese Songs

They questioned in vain:
“What is better,
Sun’s glow, the moon’s gleam,
Or the star’s sheen?”
I knew not what to tell them.
Sun’s glow, like wine, cheers me,
White moonlight illumines my way,
Stars bring gay laughter to my soul.

Morn will dawn, maidens will ponder:
“Thou must fain have kissed fragrant jasmine,
With tepid milk laved and refreshed thee,
All night slumbered gently and serenely,
That, like dawn, thou glowest with beauty!”
“Nay,” I’ll murmur,
“Love has called on me and blessed me.”

Today is a happy day.
Jasmine, like snow, is floating and falling,
Breezes are lazily puffing up the sails,
Ducks are quacking in the pond, green as jade,
Sleepily the windmill is turning, and lo!
There’s a learned and polite little man,
Gracefully he bows and kowtows,
(A connoisseur of finest tea,
His brain harbors but exquisite thinking)...
Today is that happy day
When my childhood turneth into adolescence.