Endless yearning I | I am endlessly yearning

by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762)

Translation by Witter Bynner (1881 - 1968)

長相思之一

Language: Chinese (中文)

長相思，
在長安。
絡緯秋啼金井闌，
微霜淒淒簟色寒。
孤燈不明思欲絕，
卷帷望月空長歎。
美人如花隔雲端，
上有青冥之長天，
下有淥水之波瀾。
天長路遠魂飛苦，
夢魂不到關山難。
長相思，
摧心肝。

Text Authorship:

by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762), "長相思之一" [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 Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Erik Blomberg (1894 - 1965) , appears in Jadeberget, kinesisk lyrik från Tangdynastin 618-906 , first published 1944, copyright © ; composed by Hilding Rosenberg.

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

ENG English (Witter Bynner) , "Endless yearning I", appears in The Jade Mountain, first published 1929

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-07-28
Line count: 13
Word count: 13

Endless yearning I

Language: English after the Chinese (中文)

"I am endlessly yearning
To be in Changan.
...Insects hum of autumn by the gold brim of the well;
A thin frost glistens like little mirrors on my cold mat;
The high lantern flickers; and. deeper grows my longing.
I lift the shade and, with many a sigh, gaze upon the moon,
Single as a flower, centred from the clouds.
Above, I see the blueness and deepness of sky.
Below, I see the greenness and the restlessness of water....
Heaven is high, earth wide; bitter between them flies my sorrow.
Can I dream through the gateway, over the mountain?
Endless longing
Breaks my heart."

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Text Authorship:

by Witter Bynner (1881 - 1968), "Endless yearning I", 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 Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762), "長相思之一"
- 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):

[ None yet in the database ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-07-28
Line count: 13
Word count: 104