There's a girl from Loyang in the door across the street,
She looks fifteen, she may be a little older.
...While her master rides his rapid horse with jade bit an bridle,
Her handmaid brings her cod-fish in a golden plate.
On her painted pavilions, facing red towers,
Cornices are pink and green with peach-bloom and with willow,
Canopies of silk awn her seven-scented chair,
And rare fans shade her, home to her nine-flowered curtains.
Her lord, with rank and wealth and in the bud of life,
Exceeds in munificence the richest men of old.
He favours this girl of lowly birth, he has her taught to dance;
And he gives away his coral-trees to almost anyone.
The wind of dawn just stirs when his nine soft lights go out,
Those nine soft lights like petals in a flying chain of flowers.
Between dances she has barely time for singing over the songs;
No sooner is she dressed again than incense burns before her.
Those she knows in town are only the rich and the lavish,
And day and night she is visiting the hosts of the gayest mansions.
...Who notices the girl from Yue with a face of white jade,
Humble, poor, alone, by the river, washing silk?
Original Poem:
「洛阳女儿行」
王维
洛阳女儿对门居， 才可容颜十五余。
良人玉勒乘骢马， 侍女金盘脍鲤鱼。
画阁朱楼尽相望， 红桃绿柳垂檐向。
罗帷送上七香车， 宝扇迎归九华帐。
狂夫富贵在青春， 意气骄奢剧季伦。
自怜碧玉亲教舞， 不惜珊瑚持与人。
春窗曙灭九微火， 九微片片飞花璅。
戏罢曾无理曲时， 妆成祇是薰香坐。
城中相识尽繁华， 日夜经过赵李家。
谁怜越女颜如玉， 贫贱江头自浣纱。
Interpretation:
This poem was written by Wang Wei in his later years when he was living in Rim River with his friends, and the author of the whole poem described himself as “good and quiet” in his aspirations.
The first four lines of the poem are all about feelings, implying the contradictory and bitter feelings after his ambitions could not be realized. The poet Wang Wei’s life, in his early years, also had the ambition to serve the king and the country, but in the era of the treacherous minister Li Linfu, such an ambition can not be realized. Therefore, the poet lamented that he could not change the social situation with his own strength, and in his old age, he had to retire to the mountains.
However, the poet’s mood is only a sinking, and then remembered the pleasure of living in seclusion. The poet has skillfully chosen a scene in the life of seclusion which is quite leisurely and comfortable to write. The author does not stop at writing about the scene, but integrates his own activities into the scene – undressing lightly in the breeze, sitting alone and playing the zither under the bright moonlight, so that the feelings and the scene, the person and the situation are naturally combined together.
Finally, the scene to realize the feelings, the question and answer form of conclusion. When confronted with a friend’s question about how to face poverty or prosperity, the poet does not answer it positively, but answers it by not answering it. What’s the point of asking about poverty and prosperity? Why don’t you just go back to your hometown like me, and face everything in a peaceful state of mind?
The poem ends with this final line, which is subtle and full of flavor, free and superb yet makes people think twice.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Wang Wei (王维), 701-761 A.D., was a native of Yuncheng, Shanxi Province. Wang Wei was a poet of landscape and idylls. His poems of landscape and idylls, with far-reaching images and mysterious meanings, were widely loved by readers in later generations, but Wang Wei never really became a man of landscape and idylls.
