Singing of Sorrow in a Dream夢悲賦
1Falling into the Dream
有美王孫。蟬聯茂族。邈風流之可愛兮。顔又澤腴兮如玉。出擁高盖。入處華屋。舞如意兮碎珊瑚。曾何蔕兮心曲。後房蛾眉簪翠曳縠爛盈盈兮。更侍琤然珠佩之相觸。目倦乎華靡。耳慣乎絲竹。冬而至於凉。不知其凝嚴。夏而至於溫。不知其暑溽。又安知人生有羈窮困躓憂愁哀怨之屬哉。當春陽之旣舒兮。感芳華之蕩意。召賓友於華堂兮。玉爲簪兮珠爲履。酌芳醑兮行金鍾。莫不濡首而霑醉。焚綠桂兮繼頽光。尙歡樂之未已。倐春宵之易闌兮。落月窺窓兮嫵媚。忽體倦以神疲。遂頽然兮就寐。博山熏兮噴香炷。斗帳垂兮掩綺被。赤羽奮迅登扶桑兮。尙雷鳴而酣睡。於是怳然惚然夢遊乎廣漠之墟無人之地。四顧茫茫不見阡里。深江自波。灌木叢倚。野草少色。危石如墜。日掩掩兮沈紅。煙冥冥兮疊翠。猿哀哭兮相吊。衆鳥啾啾兮不止。慘然思家欲亟還兮。迷不知路何自。念嬪御兮安在。
There was a fair scion of a royal house (王孫), of a flourishing lineage carried down through the generations. The far-off air of his elegance was lovely, and his countenance too was rich and like jade. When he went out a high parasol was held over him, and when he came in he dwelt in a splendid house. Though he swung a ruyi scepter (如意) and shattered coral with it, it never once weighed upon his heart. In the inner rooms lovely women, their kingfisher pins set in their hair and their silks trailing, filled the place dazzlingly, and attended him again with the ringing sound of jeweled pendants striking one against another. His eyes were wearied with splendor and his ears were grown used to the sound of strings and bamboo. Coming to a cool place in winter he did not know the bitterness of the cold, and coming to a warm place in summer he did not know its sweltering heat. And how should he have known that in a man's living there are such things as being bound, being brought low, stumbling and falling, grieving, sorrowing, and bearing a grudge? When the spring sunlight had already spread out, his heart was stirred by the light of the blossoms, and he called his guests and friends to the Splendid Hall (華堂). Their hairpins were of jade and their shoes of pearl. Fragrant wine was poured and the golden cup went round, and there was not one who did not drench his head and grow deep in drink. They burned green cassia to piece out the failing light, and still the pleasure of it was not at an end. All at once the spring night was quickly spent, and the setting moon peeped in at the window, lovely. Suddenly his body was languid and his spirit worn out, and at last he fell asleep as though struck down. The Boshan censer (博山香爐) breathed out its incense, the curtain shaped like a horse-trough hung down, and the brocade coverlet was drawn over him. Though the sun in its red plumage shook itself out and climbed the Busang tree (扶桑), still he snored like thunder and slept sweetly. Thereupon, dimly, in a dream he roamed over a broad and far-off waste, a land without people. Though he looked about him on all four sides it was vague and he could see no road. The deep river made its own waves, and the scrub trees leaned in clumps. The grass of the field was thin in color and the perilous rocks were as though about to fall. The sun sank reddening into the gloom, and the mist darkly laid green upon green. The monkeys cried out in grief as though condoling with one another, and the many birds chirped without ceasing. Wretchedly he thought of home and would have hurried back, but he did not know the road and went astray. Thinking where his wife and her maids might be, he
2Seeing the Graves and Waking
掩翠衫而拭淚。登崇阿以延佇兮。鬱千峯之邐迤。披蒙茸兮尋崎嶇。慮髬髵之攸庇。𢥠奔還以陟隴兮。墳纍纍兮錯峙。上有蹲狐與伏兔兮。紛侶集兮族戱。拂頽碑以俯窺兮。伊昔綺紈之公子。歌堂舞館屬何人兮。爲此一丘兮山之趾。富貴兮如浮。瓊華兮易悴。吊斯人以彷徨兮。益凄切以酸鼻。足累繭兮無攸歸。飢與渴兮交至。俄欠伸以忽寤兮。喜窓櫳之猶是。顧尙臥於一床。夫何爲此遐遊。以須臾之一夢。悟榮辱之相酬。王孫兮可以銘肌。永不忘貧賤羇離者之憂。
turned back his green jacket and wiped away his tears. He climbed a high bank and stood there blankly, and a thousand peaks ran on, thick and dense. Parting the rank grass and feeling out the rough path, he was anxious lest a maned beast lay hidden there. Fleeing in fright he came back and climbed a knoll, and there graves rose up layer on layer, out of line with one another. Upon them crouching foxes and crouching hares, pairing confusedly, gathered and played in troops. He swept clear a fallen stele and looked down at it: it was a young nobleman (公子) who had once worn brocade. To whom have the halls where he sang and the pavilions where he danced gone? They have become this one knoll at the foot of a hill. Riches and honor are like a thing afloat, and the fair flower withers easily. Condoling with this man he walked to and fro, and grew the more wretched, until the tip of his nose was sour with it. Though he walked until his feet were nailed with blisters there was nowhere to go back to, and hunger and thirst came upon him together. Then, as he was stretching himself, all at once he woke, and was glad that the window lattice was as it had been. Looking about him he was still lying on the one couch; how then had he made so far a journey? In the space of a moment, by one dream, he understood that glory and disgrace requite one another. O scion of a royal house, this is worth graving on the flesh: never for long forget the cares of those who are poor and lowly and who drift about as wayfarers.