Autumn Night Song
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
轻罗已薄未更衣。
银筝夜久殷勤弄，
心怯空房不忍归。
English translation
The moon is newly born, the autumn dew slight; the thin silk robe is already too light, yet I have not changed it.
Long into the night I play the silver zither with earnest care; my heart shrinks from the empty room, I cannot bear to go back.
Meaning
The autumn moon has just risen and the autumn dew is first forming; the silk gown already feels thin, yet she is too listless to change into another garment. Deep in the night she still busies herself plucking the silver zither, because she cannot bear to go back to the loneliness of an empty room.
Background
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This piece appears in both the Gu Yuanwei edition and the Ling edition. The Collection of Music Bureau Poetry gives it as a poem by Wang Wei; Ten Thousand Quatrains of Tang Poets gives it as a poem by Wang Ya; both the Quan Tang Shihua and the Tang Shi Jishi give it as a poem by Zhang Zhongsu.