Tune: “Spring in the Jade House”
Yen Shu (991–1055)
Green willows and fragrant grass by the posthouse road
Where the young man left me without a pang.
An unfinished dream at the fifth watch bell
The sorrow of parting under the blossoms in a third month rain.
Insensitive misses susceptible’s bitterness,
Whose every inch turns into a thousand myriad strands.
The sky’s edge, earth’s corner—sometime they come to an end;
It’s just this longing that is never done.
Translated by James Robert Hightower
The lyricist, who was from Lin-ch’uan in Kiangsi, passed the Presented Scholar examination at the incredibly young age of fourteen and soon thereafter received an official appointment. By the age of forty-four, he had become Grand Councilor and was one of the few southerners to achieve such a high rank at the Northern Sung court. A true statesman-poet, Yen sponsored a literary salon in his own home. He was particularly skilled in composing short lyrics and followed the tradition of the Southern T’ang lyricists.