English中文
Song of the Grand Minister: For Lü Shuqian on a Mid-Autumn Night
一轮秋影转金波，
飞镜又重磨。
把酒问姮娥：被白发，
欺人奈何？
One wheel of autumn shadow turning in golden waves; the flying mirror has been newly ground again. Wine in hand, I ask Heng'e: what can I do against the white hair that comes to mock me?
乘风好去，
长空万里，
直下看山河。
斫去桂婆娑，
人道是，
清光更多。
I would ride the wind and go far away, through ten thousand li of the long sky, to look straight down upon the mountains and rivers. Hew away the swaying cassia tree—men say the clear light would then be all the more.
Reading notes
Heng’e is another name for Chang’e, the moon goddess. The speaker addresses her while lamenting the onset of white hair. The cassia tree on the moon belongs to traditional lunar mythology.