English中文
Ruan Lang Returns: The Old Scent and Powder Seem as Before
旧香残粉似当初。
人情恨不如。
一春犹有数行书。
秋来书更疏。
The old perfume and the faded powder are as they were of old; only a person's heart is less kind than then. In spring there were still a few lines of a letter; since autumn, letters have grown fewer still.
衾凤冷，
枕鸳孤。
愁肠待酒舒。
梦魂纵有也成虚。
那堪和梦无。
The phoenix quilt is cold; the mandarin-duck pillow is lone. My grieving heart waits for wine to ease it. Even if dreams came, they too would prove empty — how much worse, when there are no dreams at all.
Reading notes
衾凤 and 枕鸳 refer to a quilt and pillow decorated with phoenixes and mandarin ducks. 那堪 means “how can one bear it”; 那 is read nǎ here.