There was a little girl, Who had a little curl, Right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, She was very good indeed, But when she was bad she was horrid.
I knew a simple soldier boy Who grinned at life in empty joy, Slept soundly through the lonesome dark, And whistled early with the lark.
In winter trenches, cowed and glum, With crumps and lice and lack of rum, He put a bullet through his brain. No one spoke of him again.
You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye Who cheer when soldier lads march by, Sneak home and pray you'll never know The hell where youth and laughter go.
Why fades a dream? An iridescent ray Flecked in between the tryst Of night and day. Why fades a dream? -- Of consciousness the shade Wrought out by lack of light and made Upon life's stream. Why fades a dream? That thought may thrive, So fades the fleshless dream; Lest men should learn to trust The things that seem. So fades a dream, That living thought may grow And like a waxing star-beam glow Upon life's stream -- So fades a dream.
On winding pool with willows dim, At narrow strait the lovebirds swim. Green duckweeds float, Barring the lotus-picking boat. Nor butterflies nor bees Love fragrance from the withered trees. When her red petals fall apart, The lotus bloom 's bitter at heart.
The setting sun greets rising tide, The floating clouds bring rain. The swaying lotus seems to confide, Her sorrow to the poet in vain.
Then she would not be wed to vernal breeze. What could she do now autumn drives away wild geese?
Translation: Xu Yuanchong [translator]. 2021. Deep, Deep the Courtyard. [庭院深深.] Cite Publishing: Kuala Lumpur, p.226.
White in the moon the long road lies, The moon stands blank above; White in the moon the long road lies That leads me from my love.
Still hangs the hedge without a gust, Still, still the shadows stay: My feet upon the moonlit dust Pursue the ceaseless way.
The world is round, so travellers tell, And straight though reach the track, Trudge on, trudge on, 'twill all be well, The way will guide one back.
But ere the circle homeward hies, Far, far must it remove: White in the moon the long road lies That leads me from my love.
NOTE: This poem is sometimes titled by its first line or an abbreviated form, thereof. So, it’s sometimes called: “White in the Moon the Long Road Lies.”
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