English中文
Treading on Grass: Parting
候馆梅残，
溪桥柳细。
草薰风暖摇征辔。
离愁渐远渐无穷，
迢迢不断如春水。
The plum by the staging-inn is spent, the willow by the stream bridge slender; the grass is fragrant, the wind warm, swaying the traveler's bridle. The grief of parting grows with the distance, and grows without end, unending as the spring water.
寸寸柔肠，
盈盈粉泪。
楼高莫近危阑倚。
平芜尽处是春山，
行人更在春山外。
Inch by inch the tender heart; welling, welling the rosy tears. Do not climb the tower and lean against its high railing: where the flat green ends, there are spring hills — and the traveler is beyond the spring hills.
Reading notes
候馆 is a travellers’ lodging. 危阑 means a high railing; 平芜 is a broad grassy plain. The two stanzas shift between the traveller and the person left behind, linked by spring water and distant hills.