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by Li Qingzhao (c1084 - c1151)
Translation by Jiaosheng Wang (b. 1905)

Despair
Language: English  after the Chinese (中文) 
Searching, seeking. 
        Seeking, searching:
What comes of it but
        Coldness and desolation,
A world of dreariness and misery
And stabbing pain!
As soon as one feels a bit of warmth
A sense of chill returns:
A time so hard to have a quiet rest.
What avail two or three cups of tasteless wine
Against a violent evening wind?
Wild geese wing past at this of all hours,
And it suddenly dawns on me
That I've met them before.

Golden chrysanthemums in drifts -
How I'd have loved to pick them,
But now, for whom? On the ground they lie strewn,
Faded, neglected.
There's nothing for it but to stay at the window,
Motionless, alone.
How the day drags before dusk descends!
Fine rain falling on the leaves of parasol-trees
Drip, drip, drop, drop, in the deepening twilight.
To convey all the melancholy feelings
Born of these scenes
Can the one word "sorrow" suffice?

Text Authorship:

  • by Jiaosheng Wang (b. 1905), "Despair" [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Chinese (中文) by Li Qingzhao (c1084 - c1151) [text unavailable]
    • 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 Karol Beffa (b. 1973), "Despair" [ voice and piano ], from Fragments of China, no. 4, Klarthe Editions [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2025-05-21
Line count: 26
Word count: 152

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