English中文
Butterfly Loves the Flower: Dreaming into Jiangnan's Misty Waters
梦入江南烟水路，
行尽江南，
不与离人遇。
睡里消魂无说处，
觉来惆怅消魂误。
In dream I enter the misty waterways of Jiangnan; I walk all Jiangnan through, yet do not meet the one I left. In sleep there is no one to tell the heart's despair; waking, I grieve that the despair of sleep was a cheat.
欲尽此情书尺素，
浮雁沉鱼，
终了无凭据。
却倚缓弦歌别绪，
断肠移破秦筝柱。
I would pour out this love upon a letter of white silk, but drifting geese and sinking fish give no sure means in the end. Instead I turn to the slow music of the strings and sing the sorrow of parting, heart-broken, shifting the bridges of the Qin zither.
Reading notes
觉来 means waking; this page uses jiào, while jué is also found. 尺素 stands for a letter, and fish and geese evoke traditional stories of carrying messages. 缓弦 is rendered here as the slow music of strings.