Endless Longing: No. 2
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
月明如素愁不眠。
赵瑟初停凤凰柱，
蜀琴欲奏鸳鸯弦。
此曲有意无人传，
愿随春风寄燕然。
忆君迢迢隔青天。
昔时横波目，
今作流泪泉。
不信妾肠断，
归来看取明镜前。
English translation
The sunlight is about to fail, the flowers veiled in mist; the moon is bright as white silk, and I am sad and cannot sleep.
The Zhao zither has just ceased upon the phoenix-shaped bridge; the Shu lute would sound the mandarin-duck strings.
This song has its meaning, but no one to carry it; I would send it with the spring wind to Yanran.
I think of you, far away beyond the blue sky. Once my eyes were glancing waves; now they are a spring of flowing tears.
If you do not believe my heart is broken, come back and look into the bright mirror before me.
Meaning
The sun sinks in the west and dusk grows hazy; the flower stamens are wrapped in thin smoke.
The moonlight is like a silken skein; I think of my love and lie awake all night.
I have just ceased playing the Zhao zither whose bridge is carved with phoenixes;
I would play the Shu zither next, but fear to touch its mandarin-duck strings.
This melody so full of feeling, alas, has no one to carry it;
would that it rode the spring wind and reached far-off Yanran.
I think of my love: he is far away, beyond the edge of the sky.
The eyes that once sent me their autumn glances
are now the wellspring of my tears.
If you do not believe that your humble handmaid's longing severs her heart,
come home and look at my face before the bright mirror!
Background
Read the background
These three poems "Endless Longing" are generally dated to after Li Bai was "granted gold and sent back to the mountains"; they are probably works in which he recalled his past feelings in contemplation after having been elbowed out of Chang'an. This is one of them.