Huang Jing Ren: Impromptu on the Eve of 1773

Huang Jing Ren: Impromptu on the Eve of 1773

　　癸巳除夕偶成（二）
　　　　　　　黄景仁 1749-1783
年年此夕费吟呻，儿女灯前窃笑频。
汝辈何知吾自悔，枉抛心力作诗人。

其二 No. II
年year　年year　此this　夕even　费waste/cost　吟compose　呻murmur
儿son　女daughter　灯lamp　前before　窃privately　笑laugh　频frequent汝you　辈generation　何how　知know　吾I　自self　悔regret
枉vainly　抛throw　心heart　力strength　作become　诗poetry　人man

　　　Impromptu on the Eve of 1773
　　　　　　　　　Huang Jingren (1749-1783 Qing Dynasty)
Every year on this eve I try hard to compose poems,
Children in the lamplight can barely hide their laughs.
How can your generation know the regret I harbor
For the heart-effort I have wasted on becoming a poet?

Version II 另一译本
　　　Poem on the Eve
It’s the last eve of the year. Again.
No need to save for another say the meagre verve left.
I may use more than that for just another poem,
And my children think otherwise, in the festive light
Their laughing faces colorful and bright.
How can they know the regret I’ve nurtured
For more years than their age
That becoming a poet is to discharge heart-blood into a river of time?

Back-translation 回译

　　　除夕之诗
一年的最后一夜。又一年了。
已无必要将残留的一点生气省给明天。
我可以用更多精力再写一首诗，
可孩子们不这么想，节庆的彩灯下
他们的笑脸如此亮丽。
这么多年的后悔，超过了他们的年纪，
他们又怎么能懂？写诗，
不过就是将心血释放进时间之河。