The Long-Departed Lover | Fair one, when you were here, I filled the house with flowers

by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762)

Translation by Shigeyoshi Obata (1888 - 1971)

美人在時花滿堂，/ 美人去時餘空床。

Language: Chinese (中文)

美人在時花滿堂，
美人去時餘空床。
床中鏽被卷不寢，
至今三載聞餘香。
香亦竟不滅，
人亦竟不來。
相思黃葉落，
白露濕青苔。

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762), no title, appears in 寄遠 (To Send Far Away), no. 11 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

[ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in English, a translation by Shigeyoshi Obata (1888 - 1971) , "The Long-Departed Lover" ; composed by Constant Lambert.
- Go to the text.

Researcher for this page: Shun Yan

This text was added to the website: 2025-02-06
Line count: 8
Word count: 8

The Long‑Departed Lover

Language: English after the Chinese (中文)

Fair one, when you were here, I filled the house with flowers.
Fair one, now you are gone — only an empty couch is left.
On the couch the embroidered quilt is rolled up; I cannot sleep.
It is three years since you went. The perfume you left behind haunts me still.
The perfume floats about me forever, 
But where are you, Beloved?
I sigh — the yellow leaves fall from the branch,
I weep — the dew twinkles white on the green mosses.

Text Authorship:

by Shigeyoshi Obata (1888 - 1971), "The Long-Departed Lover" [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Chinese (中文) by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762), no title, appears in 寄遠 (To Send Far Away), no. 11
- Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Constant Lambert (1905 - 1951), "The Long-Departed Lover", 1926, published 1927 [ voice and piano ], from Eight Poems of Li-Po, no. 8 [sung text checked 1 time]

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Martin Jahn

This text was added to the website: 2025-02-06
Line count: 8
Word count: 84