We joked, long ago, about one of us dying,
But suddenly, before my eyes, you are gone.
Almost all your clothes have been given away;
Your needlework is sealed, I dare not look at it...
I continue your bounty to our men and our maids --
Sometimes, in a dream, I bring you gifts.
...This is a sorrow that all mankind must know --
But not as those know it who have been poor together.
Original Poem:
「遣悲怀 · 其二」
元稹
昔日戏言身后事， 今朝都到眼前来。
衣裳已施行看尽， 针线犹存未忍开。
尚想旧情怜婢仆， 也曾因梦送钱财。
诚知此恨人人有， 贫贱夫妻百事哀。
Interpretation:
This poem follows on from the first and focuses on the poet’s sad life after his wife’s death.
In the past, what the young couple said casually in jest, I do not want this day but really come true, and even become a mourning sentiment, so the more real feeling of grief. Seeing the object and thinking of the person, the grief is immense.
In order to try to avoid seeing things, slightly reduce the feelings of grief, will be his wife’s life through the clothing charity out; while his wife’s life did the needlework and preserved in its original form, can not bear to open. A Shi a deposit, the mood is extremely contradictory, this negative approach itself just proves that the poet simply can not get rid of the endless nostalgia for his deceased wife.
Whenever he saw the servant girl beside his wife, he could not help but think of her, and thus felt a kind of pity for the servant girl. Daytime is still so touching, night is the dream soul fly over the dream to find each other, and even in the dream to send money to the deceased wife, seemingly absurd and hard to believe, in fact, touching to the depths.
The last two sentences is the middle of the four sentences of the summary of the summary, husband and wife death is the law of nature is unavoidable, but for the same poverty and suffering together but failed to enjoy the wealth of the husband and wife, once the eternal farewell, it is more sad.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Yuan Zhen (元稹), 779-831 A.D., was a native of Luoyang, Henan Province, who was poor in his early years, but later became an official and finally died of a violent illness. He was friendly with Bai Juyi and often sang with him, and was known as “Yuan Bai”.
