The Ballad of Changgan: No. 1
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
折花门前剧。
郎骑竹马来，
绕床弄青梅。
同居长干里，
两小无嫌猜。
十四为君妇，
羞颜未尝开。
低头向暗壁，
千唤不一回。
十五始展眉，
愿同尘与灰。
常存抱柱信，
岂上望夫台。
十六君远行，
瞿塘滟滪堆。
五月不可触，
猿声天上哀。
门前迟行迹，
一一生绿苔。
苔深不能扫，
落叶秋风早。
八月蝴蝶来，
双飞西园草。
感此伤妾心，
坐愁红颜老。
早晚下三巴，
预将书报家。
相迎不道远，
直至长风沙。
English translation
My hair just covered my forehead; I picked flowers and played before the gate.
You came riding a bamboo horse; around the well we played with green plums.
We lived together in Changgan Lane; two little ones, without a thought of suspicion.
At fourteen I became your wife; my shy face had never once unfolded.
I bowed my head toward the dark wall; you called a thousand times, I would not turn once.
At fifteen I first smoothed my brows, wishing to be one with dust and ashes.
I always kept the faith of him who clung to the pillar; how should I ever have climbed the Watch-for-Husband Terrace?
At sixteen you went far away, to Qutang and the Yanyu reefs.
In the fifth month they may not be touched; the gibbons cry mournfully in the sky above.
Before our gate, the traces of your lingering steps, one by one, have grown green moss.
The moss is too deep to be swept; the leaves fall, the autumn wind comes early.
In the eighth month the butterflies come, flying in pairs over the west garden grass.
Seeing this wounds my heart; I sit in sorrow and my rosy face grows old.
Whenever you come down the Three Ba, send word home beforehand.
I will go to meet you, not counting the distance, all the way to Changfengsha.
Meaning
My hair had just come down over my forehead, when I played the flower-plucking game with you before the door.
You came riding a bamboo horse; together we circled the well rail, tossing green plums at each other in play.
We both lived in Changgan Lane, and from childhood neither of us knew any guile.
At fourteen I became your wedded wife; at the wedding I was so abashed I dared not lift my face.
I bent my head toward the dark corner of the wall; though you called a thousand times, I would not turn my head.
At fifteen my brows first opened in happy smiles, and I vowed to grow old with you until we turned to dust and ash.
You always kept your faith as Weisheng clasped the pillar; how could I ever mount the Watch-for-Husband Terrace?
At sixteen you left me and journeyed far away, passing the dreadful Yanyu Reef in the Qutang Gorge.
In the fifth month the waters rise and the reef is hard to make out, and I feared you would strike the rocks; the gibbons wailed on both banks, more mournful still.
Before the gate, the traces of the steps by which you slowly went away
Background
Read the background
This poem was written when Li Bai first traveled to Jinling, not long after the end of autumn in 725 (the thirteenth year of the Kaiyuan era of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang).