Jump to content
OneHallyu Will Be Closing End Of 2023 ×
OneHallyu

[Jackson Yi] 易烊�玺 - 离骚 | The sorrowful worries of separation


renn

Recommended Posts

Jackson Yi (易烊åƒçŽº) - 离骚 | The sorrowful worries of separation[1]

 

 

Lyrics: é‡‘çŽŸå² (Vanessa Jin)

Composition: é‡‘çŽŸå² (Vanessa Jin)

Arrangement: 颜å°å¥ (Jyken Yan)

 


Lyrics translation by renn at www.onehallyu.com


credits.png



 


 

 

日与月 å¤ä¸Žå†¬ 更迭难休

è‰ä¸Žæœ¨ 盛与衰 é—®ç¾Žäººä¾æ—§

æµè¨€å››èµ·çš„风

撩拨å›è‡£å¼‚梦

问天å¯å¦ä¸ºæ˜Žå¿ƒè€Œè§è¯

 

rì yÇ” yuè / xià yÇ” dÅng / gÄ“ng dié nán xiÅ«

cÇŽo yÇ” mù / shèng yÇ” shuÄi / wèn mÄ›i rén yÄ« jiù

liú yán sì qÇ de fÄ“ng

liáo bŠjūn chén yì mèng

wèn tiÄn kÄ› fÇ’u wèi míng xÄ«n ér jiàn zhèng

 

The sun and the moon, summer and winter—[they] unceasingly alternate.[2.1]

The grass and the trees, flourishment and withering— ask, oh beautiful lady, are [you] still as [you] had been before?[2.2]

The wind of rumors rising from all directions

Provokes the ruler and his minister to dream different dreams.

ask heaven whether it could serve as witness to the elucidation of [my] heart.[3]

 

 

*

浊与清 美与陋 颠倒众生

芷与兰 è•™ä¸Žèƒ éš¾å芳馨

何故逆æµè€Œä¸Š

何为孤芳自èµ

无人知晓故乡å˜ä»–乡

 

zhuó yÇ” qÄ«ng / mÄ›i yÇ” lòu / diÄn dÇŽo zhòng shÄ“ng

zhÇ yÇ” lán / huì yÇ” quán / nán tÇ” fÄng xÄ«n

hé gù nì liú ér shàng

hé wéi gÅ« fÄng zì shÇŽng

wú rén zhÄ« xiÇŽo gù xiÄng biàn tÄ xiÄng

 

Turbidity[4] and clearness[5], beauty and hideousness—all living things have been turned upside down.

White angelica[6.1] and boneset[6.2], miscanthus orchid[6.3] and calamus[6.4]—it is difficult to give off fragrance.

What is the reason behind swimming against the current?

What is "a solitary flower taking pleasure its own fragrance"[7]?

No one knows that the home land has become foreign.

 

 

**

乱世而 ä¸ç¾¤

è°å¯è§£ 囿„

云游而 远去

心å´ç³» 故里

 

luàn shì ér / bù qún

shéi kě jiě / jūn yì

yún yóu ér / yuǎn qù

xÄ«n què xì / gù lÇ

 

[in these] troubled times, stand apart from all the others.[8]

Who is able to understand the will of the ruler?

roam[9] and thus travel far away,

But [my] heart is tied to [my] birthplace.

 

 

***

饮一å¥ç¦»éªšåˆ«æ„

醉一世报国春秋

奈何长路漫漫上下难求

哀民生几多忧

 

yÇn yÄ« jù lí sÄo bié chóu

zuì yī shì bào guó chūn qiū

nài hé cháng lù màn màn shàng xià nán qiú

Äi mín shÄ“ng jÇ duÅ yÅu

 

Drinking a sentence regarding the sorrowful worries of separation,

[i am] inebriated for a generation's time of dedication to the nation[10].

But alas, what can be done? The long road [before me] is seemingly endless; it is difficult to to pursue [my ideals wherever this pursuit might take me].[11]

Oh grief, how much worry is there when it comes to the livelihood of the people?[12]

 

 

****

唱一å¥ç¦»éªšåˆ«æ„

å¹ä¸€ç”ŸçŸ¥å·±éš¾ç•™

心之所善无悔 终化作ç°

此梦若颠沛

留给åŽäººçީ味

 

chàng yÄ« jù lí sÄo bié chóu

tàn yÄ« shÄ“ng zhÄ« jÇ nán liú

xÄ«n zhÄ« suÇ’ shàn wú huÇ / zhÅng huà zuò huÄ«

cÇ mèng ruò diÄn pèi

liú gěi hòu rén wán wèi

 

Singing a line of the sorrowful worries of separation,

sigh over the fact that a lifetime's bosom friend is hard to keep.

[For] the ideals dear to [my] heart, [i'd die a thousand times over] without regret.[13] Ultimately, turn into dust.

If this dream is met with tribulation,

Then will leave it for later generations to ruminate over.

 

 

Repeat *, **, ***, ****

 

 

#

路漫漫其修远兮 å¾å°†ä¸Šä¸‹æ±‚ç´¢

长太æ¯ä»¥æŽ©æ¶•å…® 哀民生之多艰

亦余心之所善兮 乿­»å…¶çŠ¹æœªæ‚”

既莫足为美政兮 å¾ä»Žå½­å’¸æ‰€å±…

 

lù màn màn qí xiÅ« yuÇŽn xÄ« / wú jiÄng shàng xià qiú suÇ’

cháng tài xí yÇ yÇŽn tì xÄ« / Äi mínshÄ“ng zhÄ« duÅ jiÄn

yì yú xÄ«n zhÄ« suÇ’ shàn xÄ« jiÇ”sÇ qí yóu wèi huÇ

jì mò zú wéi měi zhèng xī wú cóng péng xián suǒ jū

 

The road [before me] is long and extends far; I will go anywhere and everywhere to pursue [my ideals].[11]

sigh over and over as wipe my tears; how pitiful that the survival of the people is so arduous.[12]

[These are] the ideals dear to my heart; [for their sake, I] would die a thousand times over without regret.[13]

Since the ideal politics cannot be realized, I will follow Peng Xian in finding my life's ultimate destination.[14]

 

 

Repeat #

 

Repeat ***, ****

 

 

 

T/N:

 

[1] 离骚: "Li Sao" is the name of a famous ancient Chinese poem by Warring States period poet and politician Qu Yuan. The lyrics for this song are very heavily sourced from the original text (as demonstrated by the huge number of notes below this one). The Wikipedia article on this poem favors the translation of the title into "Encountering Sorrow", which is indeed one of the sourceable interpretations. I favor another more literal interpretation by Han Dynasty poet and annotator Wang Yi, which essentially dissects the title as 离 = separation, 骚 = sorrow/worry.

 

 

[2] These first two lines of the lyrics are derived from two lines in the original poem.

 

[2.1] æ—¥æœˆå¿½å…¶ä¸æ·¹å…®ï¼Œæ˜¥ä¸Žç§‹å…¶ä»£åºã€‚ -- Translation: "Time flies by, unable to stay for long; the seasons progress and replace one another." So actually, "the sun" and "the moon" refer to the days and the nights whereas "summer" and "winter" ("spring" and "autumn" in the poem) refer to the four seasons.

 

[2.2] æƒŸè‰æœ¨ä¹‹é›¶è½å…®ï¼Œæç¾Žäººä¹‹è¿Ÿæš®ã€‚ -- Translation: "I think of the fact that the grasses and the trees have [departed from flourishment and] become wilted; and I fear becoming decrepit." The latter half is literally "fear a beauty's sunset/late life", but the poet was not calling himself a beauty. I think it's because of the close association between beauty/prime of life with brevity of duration, so he fears this thing that is well known to happen to beauties. However, given how the lyricist reworded this, I kept the literal "beauty" in my translation.

 

 

[3] 问天å¯å¦ä¸ºæ˜Žå¿ƒè€Œè§è¯: There is a line in the original poem (指ä¹å¤©ä»¥ä¸ºæ­£å…®ï¼Œå¤«æƒŸçµä¿®ä¹‹æ•…也。) that means "I point at the heaven and ask it to serve as my witness; everything I do is for the sake of the my king".

 

 

[4] 浊: This "turbidity" describes the state of the society, its atmosphere, the way things were done at the time. (See lines from the original poem: 世溷浊而ä¸åˆ†å…®ï¼Œå¥½è”½ç¾Žè€Œå«‰å¦’。 and 世溷浊而嫉贤兮,好蔽美而称æ¶ã€‚)

 

 

[5] 清: This "clearness" probably describes the honesty and uprightness of character. (See: 伿¸…白以死直兮,固å‰åœ£ä¹‹æ‰€åŽšã€‚)

 

 

[6] The original poem has many references to fragrant grasses/herbaceous plants. Each of the follow four plants appear multiple times throughout the poem. However, there is one line in which they all appear (兰芷å˜è€Œä¸èŠ³å…®ï¼Œèƒè•™åŒ–而为茅。), which translates to "The boneset and the white angelica have lost their fragrance; the calamus and the miscanthus orchid have turned into cogon grass and green foxtail". The "turned into cogon grass (which was used by commoners to thatch the roofs of simple houses and latrine pits) and green foxtail (which is considered a worthless weed)" was apparently intended by the poet as an analogy for someone who has degenerated from being virtuous into a sycophant who slanders others to gain favor. ...Hence why "it is difficult to give of fragrance"!

 

Translating plant names is hard, mainly because of the lack of systematic accuracy in the nomenclature of old. One name can refer to a whole bunch of different plants.

 

[6.1] 芷: I took this to be 白芷, which is "white angelica".

 

[6.2] 兰: Out of context, I would have translated this as "orchid", but the original poem says 秋兰, the first character meaning "autumn". 泽兰 is an autumn blooming flower. Different sources give me different Latin names...but I went with the Eupatorium genus, which is also called "boneset".

 

[6.3] è•™: I was debating between two choices for this one: 1) miscathus orchid (aka Cymbidium faberi), which is 蕙兰 in Mandarin; 2) Eupatorium fortunei, which is è•™è‰ (or 佩兰) in Mandarin. These two aren't even the only options for è•™...

 

[6.4] èƒ: "Calamus" is a plant of many names. It is a metaphor used in ancient times to refer to the ruler/king. This was seen in the original poem (èƒä¸æŸ¥ä½™ä¹‹ä¸­æƒ…兮,å信谗而齌怒。 --  Translation: "Oh king, you do not try to understand my loyalty to you; instead, you listen to the calumny against me and rage at me"). It is interesting to note that èƒèª was also used as a metaphor for a person of virtue...which ties back to the metaphor in that aforementioned line of the poem.

 

I could go on and on about about these four plants. I could go on and on about the fragrant grasses being a recurring theme throughout the original poem. But I'm going to stop before I'm tempted to type more.

 

 

[7] 孤芳自èµ: I've translated it literally. It is a metaphor for someone with lofty morals and is proud and aloof in temperament, indulging in self-admiration. I can't find the source but some relate this to orchids.

 

 

[8] ä¸ç¾¤: Literally "not-group/flock", I normally would translate this as "extraordinary", as in, someone who stands head and shoulders above the crowd. However, it can also mean someone who is separate from the crowd. I interpreted it to be this latter meaning due to a line from the original poem (鸷鸟之ä¸ç¾¤å…®ï¼Œè‡ªå‰ä¸–而固然。 -- Translation: "The ferocious eagle does not flock with the likes of other birds; it has been this way since ancient times").

 

 

[9] 云游: I thought I would note that the poet spent a great portion of the original poem describing his imagined travels.

 

 

[10] 国: I translated it as "nation", though the original poem's writer was from the Warring States period and so this "nation" is really a "state", the State of Chu, to be exact.

 

 

[11] 奈何长路漫漫上下难求: This line is derived from a line in the original poem (路漫漫其修远兮,å¾å°†ä¸Šä¸‹è€Œæ±‚索。)...which you see quoted in its original form later on in the song.

 

 

[12] 哀民生几多忧: This line is derived from the latter half of a line in the original poem (长太æ¯ä»¥æŽ©æ¶•兮,哀民生之多艰。), which you also see quoted in its original form later on).

 

 

[13] 心之所善无悔: This is shortened from a line in the original poem (äº¦ä½™å¿ƒä¹‹æ‰€å–„å…®ï¼Œè™½ä¹æ­»å…¶çŠ¹æœªæ‚”ã€‚) and as such I translated it for its original full meaning the same as I did when the line is quoted in full later in the song. Just a note that though it is to the effect of "a thousand times over", literally speaking, it states "nine deaths".

 

 

[14] 既莫足为美政兮 å¾ä»Žå½­å’¸æ‰€å±…: This is slightly shortened from the final line in the original poem (既莫足与为美政兮,å¾å°†ä»Žå½­å’¸ä¹‹æ‰€å±…ï¼). Peng Xian was figure of admiration for Qu Yuan and his name is mentioned multiple times throughout the original poem. This Peng Xian was said to have been a senior official who remonstrated his king about something but the king wouldn't listen, and so he threw himself into the river and died. The records are poor and so there is little information on who Peng Xian was, or even if he was a real person.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Back to Top