Alice Poon

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

A
Yuan Qu Aria and a Song Poem

Recently I came across two Chinese poems that I became
immediately smitten with. One is a Yuan qu (aria) (元曲)
by Ma Zhiyuan (馬志遠),
called “Sky and Clear Sand: Autumnal Thoughts” (天淨沙:
秋思),
and the other is a Song seven-character quatrain by Southern Song poet Lu You
(陸游),
called “Revisiting Shen Garden, One of Two” (再遊沈園,
二首之一).

Ma Zhiyuan was born in war-torn Southern Song dynasty and
was a Yuan dynasty court official by profession. He was also a well-known Yuan
drama (雜劇)
and aria (散曲)
writer and was honored with being named one of the four great masters of Yuan
aria writers (元曲四大家之一).

天淨沙·秋思•
馬致遠
(“Sky and Clear Sand: Autumnal Thoughts”) by Ma Zhiyuan

枯藤老樹昏鴉，
小橋流水人家(平沙)，
古道西風瘦馬。
夕陽西下，
斷腸人在天涯。

My English Rendition:

Dying vines, old trees, aging crows;
Beneath the
bridge flows a creek, bordering homes.
On the ancient path a gaunt horse braves the west wind.
In the
light of the setting sun,
The homesick man pines away on
Earth's rim.

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