Life until now,
through
twenty-one years,
days coming round again,
not a single day
was as clear-eyed as this moment.
Life is not easy,
I wish to become a beam of light,
doing all I can,
until death,
and no sooner!
The past behind me,
fleeting as a white colt glimpsed through a crack,
I awoke from a long dream!
The future
lies beneath my feet.
I do not wish to forget the past,
nor to lose the future;
perhaps there is something I can do,
so that a lifetime
will hold no regrets!
Life is a dream,
yet time slips away.
Can time be borne,
as each day it fades?
I watch the years fade,
rustling past,
raising a cloud of dust
that blurs the road behind me;
I sip a cup of clear tea,
its lingering fragrance on my lips,
faintly between my teeth,
nothing more than this.
When I left before,
those years were so brief—
how could the chill not turn to warmth?
I nod faintly,
setting foot on a stretch of road from the past,
hesitating, lost in the vast unknown.
I gaze at the setting sun in the west,
then turn back twice, yearning for you;
may my wish be answered in thought,
may two hearts be joined,
and love accompany us always.
Hand in hand, we gaze at the Vermilion Pavilion,
lifting our eyes, lost in thought,
we watch the sunset and lie down,
together in Handan!