A night thought on Terrace Tower | Far through the night a harp is sighing

by Wei Zhuang (836 - 910)

Translation by Witter Bynner (1881 - 1968)

章臺夜思

Language: Chinese (中文)

清瑟怨遙夜，
繞絃風雨哀。
孤燈聞楚角，
殘月下章臺。

芳草已云暮，
故人殊未來。
鄉書不可寄，
秋雁又南迴。

Text Authorship:

by Wei Zhuang (836 - 910), "章臺夜思" [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 Witter Bynner (1881 - 1968) , "A night thought on Terrace Tower", appears in The Jade Mountain, first published 1929 ; composed by Edmund Duncan Rubbra.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-07-25
Line count: 8
Word count: 8

A night thought on Terrace Tower

Language: English after the Chinese (中文)

Our translations: GER

Far through the night a harp is sighing
With a sadness of wind and rain in the strings.
There's a solitary lantern, a bugle call
And beyond Terrace Tower down goes the moon.

Fragrant grasses have changed and faded
While still I have been hoping that my old friend would come.
There are no more messengers I can send him,
Now that the wild geese have turned south.

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Text Authorship:

by Witter Bynner (1881 - 1968), "A night thought on Terrace Tower", appears in The Jade Mountain, first published 1929 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Chinese (中文) by Wei Zhuang (836 - 910), "章臺夜思"
- 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 Edmund Duncan Rubbra (1901 - 1986), "A night thought on Terrace Tower", op. 116 no. 1 (1962) [ soprano and harp ], from The Jade Mountain, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2008-07-25
Line count: 8
Word count: 68