Video Du Fu Ballad Of The Fair Lady English Translation » Genius English Translations Lyrics | Musica Lyrics

Genius English Translations - Du Fu Ballad Of The Fair Lady English Translation Lyrics

A lady fair beyond compare
In a desolate vale dwells hidden away
She was of noble birth she says
Reduced to living on grass today

The rebels when they took Chang'an
Slaughtered her brothers one and all
High offices availed them naught
She got no corpse for a funeral

All things are candles turned in wind
This age hates all who wane or fade
That shallow husband soon replaced her
With a new mistress fair as jade

The silk-tree's leaves know to curl for evening
A mateless mandarin duck can't sleep
But he saw only his new bride smiling
How could he hear his old wife weep?

Water —they say— runs pure in the mountains
But fouled with mud from the mountains rolls
Her servant returns from selling her pearls
To pile live vines on their thatch roof's holes

The cypress she plucks can't numb her hunger
The flowers she picks won't grace her hair
On the lean bamboo she slumps in sundown
Her blue sleeves thin in the cold harsh air