Fan Jinghua: Nomenclature

　　Nomenclature
　　　(after Li Shang-yin)

Will the difficulty of meeting bring an easier parting?
Can the wind from the east ever stop a flower from turning west?
A silkworm suffocates herself with the threads of her own life,
And candles will fuel the self-immolation till their blood is drained.
Maybe it is the cloud on the mirror that grays the black hair,
Surely it is the moonlight that chills the voice of the poet.
Any place, when namable due to your presence, is invariably near,
I gaze into your direction like a blue bird fluttering from the nest.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　July 9, 2004

　　　命名法

相见的艰难能否带来一次轻松的离别？
东来的风是否能阻止花儿转头向西？
春蚕窒息于自己的生命之丝，
而蜡烛的自焚以自己的鲜血作为燃料。
也许，令我黑发灰白的是镜中的云斑，
肯定是因为月色，诗人的嗓音才充满寒意。
你一现身，任何地方便得以命名并永在眼前，
我凝视着你的方向，犹如一只青鸟受惊离巢。


Li Shang-yin (ca. 812-858) was one of the most famous and charming poets in Chinese literary history. He lived in late Tang period. My Favorite.

Original poem 原诗：
李商隐: 无题（相见时难）
相见时难别亦难，东风无力百花残。
春蚕到死丝方尽，蜡炬成灰泪始干。
晓镜但愁云鬓改，夜吟应觉月光寒。
蓬山此去无多路，青鸟殷勤为探看。

　　无no　题title
　　　　　　By LI Shang-yin
相mutual　见meeting　时time　难hard　别parting　亦too　难hard
东east　风wind　无no　力strength　百hundred　花flower　残withered
春spring　蚕silkworm　到to　死death　丝silk　方eventually　尽end
蜡candle　炬torch　成become　灰ash　泪tear　始begin　干dry
晓morning　镜mirror　但only　愁worry　云cloudy　鬓hair/sideburns　改change
夜night　吟sing/compose　应should　觉feel　月moon　光light　寒chill
蓬山Peng Mountain　此here　去go away　无no　多much　路road
青blue　鸟bird　殷eager　勤frequent　为for　探enquire　看watch

Translation by James J. Y. Liu:

　　　Without Title

It is hard for us to meet and also hard to part;
The east wind is powerless as all the flowers wither.
The spring silkworm’s thread will only end when death comes;
The candle will not dry its tears until is turns to ashes.
Before the morning mirror, she only grieves that her dark hair may change;
Reciting poems by night, would she not feel the moonlight’s chill?
The P’eng Mountain likes not far away;
O Blue Bird, visit her for me with diligence!
　　　 　From The Poetry of Li Shangyin: Ninth-Century Baroque Chinese Poet

Except for the interpretation following the translation of each poem, Liu also elucidated in the section “Problems of translation” his difficulty with the example of the opening line of this poem:

Leaving aside the tone-pattern, which cannot be reproduced, we may note that the line consists of seven syllables with a caesura after the fourth (this is a common case in seven-character Chinese poems, my comments), and that the syllable 难nan (“hard”) occurs at the end of each half of the line:
　　　　　-- -- -- --*/ -- -- --*
Previously I translated this line as follows:
　　　　　Hard it is for us to meet/ and hard to go away.
This version contains seven stresses with a caesura after the fourth, but the word 别pieh (“to part”) was rendered as “go away” for the sake of rhyme. I have tried to remove this inaccuracy in the revised version, which now stands:
　　　　　It is hard for us to meet/ and also hard to part.
This still has seven stresses with a caesura after the fourth, and the repeated syllable “hard” occurs in the same position in both halves of the line. As for the meaning, the only addition is “for us,” which is implied by “mutual” in the original. This is the nearest I can get to the original both in meaning and in sound; whether it is the most satisfactory version as a line of English verse is, of course, a different question. (p.43)

The only "grudge" I have about the translation is that the third person singular female is added to the fifth and sixth lines as the subject, whereas in the original Chinese there is no subject. The original may imply that the subject may be the poet-I or the third person or both.