The stars of last night and the wind of last night
Are west of the Painted Chamber and east of Cinnamon Hall.
...Though I have for my body no wings like those of the bright-coloured phoenix,
Yet I feel the harmonious heart-beat of the Sacred Unicorn.
Across the spring-wine, while it warms me, I prompt you how to bet
Where, group by group, we are throwing dice in the light of a crimson lamp;
Till the rolling of a drum, alas, calls me to my duties
And I mount my horse and ride away, like a water-plant cut adrift.
Original Poem:
「无题二首 · 其一」
李商隐
昨夜星辰昨夜风，画楼西畔桂堂东。
身无彩凤双飞翼，心有灵犀一点通。
隔座送钩春酒暖，分曹射覆蜡灯红。
嗟余听鼓应官去，走马兰台类转蓬。
Interpretation:
This is a love poem that expresses the subtle feeling of love and acquaintance between a man and a woman, but also the feeling of separation and longing for each other.
The first two lines: Last night the stars shone brightly, but at midnight there was a cool breeze; Our banquet was set on the west bank of the Painted Building, east of the Gui Hall.
The night was low, the stars were shining, and there was a cool breeze. A night of spring intoxication, haunted by the warmth of serenity and romance. The western bank of the exquisite painting building and the eastern side of the Gui Mu Hall. The poet did not even write a clear location, but only used the surroundings to set the scene. In such a wonderful moment, charming environment in what happened in the story, the poet is only alone in the mind, we can not help but for the poem to show the flavor struck.
The third and fourth lines: although the body does not have the wings of the colorful phoenix, can not fly in unison; but you and I are like a rhinoceros in the heart, the feelings are closely linked.
The poet has been separated from the person of interest in two sets of children, wistfulness of the cut, the pain of longing: hate their own body does not have a colorful phoenix like wings, can fly to the side of the lover; each other's heart is like a rhinoceros horn, like the spirit of the same, rest in common. There is sweetness in pain, there is expectation in loneliness, the agony of lovesickness and the comfort of heart-to-heart are fused together, which portrays the complex and subtle mentality of the lovers who love each other deeply but can't be together forever in a meticulous and exquisite way.
The fifth six lines: mutual guessing hooks play, drinking spring wine across the table to warm the heart; grouped to line the wine order, the winner and the loser candlelight red.
The poet and his wife both attended a party. At the banquet, people played the game of sending hooks to each other and shooting covers in groups, drinking, warming their hearts with red wine and wine, and having a good time. Yesterday's laughter is still echoing in our ears, and today's banquet may still be going on, but there is no longer a poet. The banquet of the warm set off the poet's lonesome, quite “lively is theirs, and I have nothing” of the bleak.
The last two lines: sigh, hear the drums of dawn should go to work; horseback rushed to the lantai, like the wind fluttering artemisia.
I should go to work when I hear the sound of the drums announcing the dawn, and go in and out of the secretary's office as if I were fluffy grass floating in the wind. This sentence should be to explain the reason for leaving the beauty, at the same time revealing the boredom of the duty, implying the sentiment of worldly drifting.
The poet's feelings are delicate and genuine, depicting a confusing and indescribable emotion.he whole poem is based on psychological activities, and the poet's feelings are delicate and genuine, depicting a confusing but inseparable emotion that can be understood but not conveyed.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Li Shangyin (李商隐), 813-858 AD, was a great poet of the late Tang Dynasty. His poems were on a par with those of Du Mu, and he was known as "Little Li Du". Li Shangyin was a native of Qinyang, Jiaozuo City, Henan Province. When he was a teenager, he lost his father at the age of nine, and was called "Zheshui East and West, half a century of wandering".
