《扬州慢·淮左名都》

《扬州慢·淮左名都》

　　作者：姜夔

　　(淳熙丙申至日，余过维扬。夜雪初霁，荠麦弥望。入其城则四顾萧条，寒水自碧，暮色渐起，戍角悲吟；余怀怆然，感慨今昔，因自度此曲。千岩老人以为有黍离之悲也。)

　　淮左名都，竹西佳处，解鞍少驻初程。过春风十里，尽荠麦青青。自胡马窥江去后，废池乔木，犹厌言兵。渐黄昏，清角吹寒，都在空城。

　　杜郎俊赏，算而今、重到须惊。纵豆蔻词工，青楼梦好，难赋深情。二十四桥仍在，波心荡冷月无声。念桥边红药，年年知为谁生？

Song of Yangzhou with a Slow Rhythm

 

In th’ great city south of th’ Qinhuai,

Where th’ Zhuxi Pavilion does lie,

I alight from the horseback for a brief stay.

What us’d to be a ten-li thriving way

Is now overgrown with all kinds of weeds.

Since to th’ river come th’ covetous foe’s steeds,

E’en th’ trees and desolate ponds may dread

Th’ mention of th’ flames of war, which had o’erspread

Th’ land. In th’ looted city, when dusk draws near,

Signal horns sound plaintive and drear.

 

Du Mu, who extols the place in his verse,

Would be stunn’d if he were reviv’d, I deem;

And I’d defy his gifts to tell the grief o’er th’ curse,

Though nice are his poems on reality and dream.

Oh, the twenty-four-arch’d bridge still lies there;

The waters shimmer in the silent glare

Of th’ cold moon, and by th’ bridge the peonies rare

Grow. Alas, I wonder for whom

The flowers from year to year bloom?