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Golden goblet and fine wine,
Jade platter and exotic food--
but my appetite is not good.
Push aside the cup, throw down the chop-sticks,
Draw the sword and glance around me--
alas, my heart is empty.
O to cross Huanghe -- ice locked!
O to climb Taihang -- snowbound!
So I sit idly fishing by a stream,
And then go boating by the sun in a dream. 1
The going is tough.
The going is tough.
Many a forked-road:
which way to go?
The time will come to ride the wind and part the waves,
To set the sails of cloud and brave the boundless sea.
Translated
by Tommy W.K. Tao, Vancouver, B.C.
1 Prof. Florence Chia-ying Yeh: "by the sun" is a cultural code in Chinese poetry, for "by the Son of Heaven", i.e. beside the emperor.
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金樽清酒斗十千，
玉盤珍羞值萬錢。
停杯投箸不能食，
拔劍四顧心茫然。
欲渡黃河冰塞川，
將登太行雪暗天。
閒來垂釣坐溪上，
忽復乘舟夢日邊。
行路難，行路難。
多歧路，今安在？
長風破浪會有時，
直挂雲帆濟滄海。。
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