留客

• 《留客》 Detain your guest
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

「你如果要去，呢回唔使你開嚟，索性共你分離免得耐耐又試慘悽。人話我地野花好極唔多矜貴，做乜貪花人仔偏向箇的野花迷。我郎好極都係人地夫壻，青樓情重是必怨恨在深閨。不若割斷情絲免使郎你掛繫，但得我郎唔見面住得得我日夜悲啼。相思兩地實在難禁抵，久別相逢叫我點捨得你去歸。千一箇唔係住埋千一箇唔得到底。唉！真正累世。凑著你我都有人拘制，生不得共你同矜死都要共埋。」

If you must needs be gone, you should not to-day have set out hitherwards.
Despite myself I part from you, lest I suffer distress time upon time.
Men say that we flowers of the wilderness, however fair, yet are of no value.
Why then does youth in lust of flowers dote on the wild blosoms?
My lover, though high of worth, yet is another’s husband.
Hence passion’s transport in the wanton must needs excite resentment in the wife.
I were best sever passion’s silk thread and escape from memory of you:
So, when I can no longer see my lover’s face, let me sob with sighs by day and night.
‘Tis hard for you and me to repress our love.
Well met are we after long parting: how, then, tell me, could I bear to leave you and go home?
Not one in a thousand lives with his love: not one in a thousand is constant to the end.
Ah! Truly the world is baneful.
You and I each have one who constrains us not to meet.
In life I could not share your coverlet: but in death we shall be united.

唔好熟

• 《唔好熱》 The bane of heat
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

「唔好熱，熱極會生風。我想天時人事大抵相同，唔信你睇回南日久就有涼風送。共佢好極都要離開暫且放鬆，我想人世會合都有期唔到你放縱，年年七夕都係一日相逢。人地話相逢一日都唔中用，一日十二箇時辰點盡訴得苦衷。我話相逢一日莫話唔中用，年年一日日久就會成功。點得人學得七姐咁情長千載共，真情種只有生離無死別分外見情濃。」

A baneful thing is such heat: from heat’s excess is born the wind.
Methinks the weather of the sky and the affairs of men are in the main alike.
You doubt? Then, look! When for a length of days the wind has veered southward, a cold gust speeds along.
So, though devoted to your lover, you must part, and for a while you must let each other go.
Methinks that in human life there are occasions of union, which it is not in your power to forgo.
Year by year the seventh night of the seventh moon is a date of meeting.
Folk say that meeting for but a single day is useless.
A day has twelve hours only, how can one therein tell the full tale of the heart’s sadness?
But I say that meeting for a day should not be deemed useless:
Year by year a single day will in length of days bring its guerdon.
Would men could imitate the Seven Sisters in love’s longevity, that union might last for a thousand years.
Herein is true passion’s test:
That parting comes but in life and not in death. Marvellous is such love’s strength.

義女情男

• 《義女情男》 Virtuous maid and loving man
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

「乜你惱得咁快，一見我就心煩。相逢有咁耐咯惱過亦有咁多番，共你惱過正好番箇情字都帶淡。君呀，你時常係敢樣子惱法我寔在見為難，我減頸就得你多又怕把你情性弄慣。削性開喉共你嗌過一變免使你惡得咁交關，或者你過後思量重聽我勸諫。呢回從新相好過免俾別人彈，我都係見你共我有的合心故此唔捨得丟你另揀，就係共你時常惱出面都係掛你在心間。點得心事擺開從君你過眼，箇陣相見恨晚。呢回二家唔放手重要做箇義女情男。」

Why is your wrath so hasty? At sight of me your heart takes fire at once.
Long have we been acquainted: often have we been wroth.
I have been wroth with you and have been reconciled again: now even the word ‘passion’ cloys.
My lord, since your wrath is thus constant, certes I feel hardly used.
Submissive I have bent the neck too humbly: so I fear me that I have made sport for the passion of your nature.
In mine own despite I spoke out once in wrath with you, lest your cruelty should grow too savage.
Maybe hereafter you will take though, and listen again to my warning.
Now let us follow anew the way of friendship, avoiding other men’s blame:
For I have seen that between us two there is concord, therefore I cannot endure to part from you and choose another.
Though I have ever shown wrath toward you in my face, yet have I set you in my heart.
Would I could display my heart’s emotion, so that it might follow my lord and pass before his eyes!
Then I shall but grieve that it was nightfall e’er we saw each other.
Henceforth let not us two unclasp hands; we must ever be virtuous maid and loving man.

自悔

• 《自悔》 Repentance
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

「實在我都唔過得意，算我薄情虧負O罷你，等我掉轉呢副心腸共你好過都未遲。人地話好酒飲落半罈正知到吓味，因為從前耳軟所以正得咁迷癡。今日河水雖則係咁深都要共你撑到底。唉！將近半世，唔共你住埋唔係計。細想你從前箇一點心事待我叫我點捨得把你難為。」

Truly I also am ill-content.
‘Think you my love’s lightness casts a slur on you?
Wait! My passion’s mood is veering round, now I’ll be good to you, and none too late.
Folk say that, if wine be choice, you must drain half the bottle e’er you know its flavour.
Since erstwhile my ears were weak to your cozening, therefore I am so infatuate.
To-day, though the river water be so deep, yet together you and I must punt our craft to the end.
Ah! Almost half my life is spent.
‘Twas not my reckoning to live without you.
As thoughtfully I muse how once your heart’s care guarded me, tell me, how can I venture to ill-treat you?

想前因

• 《想前因》 On Predestination
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

「煩過一陣，想起吓前因。此生何事墮落紅塵。我想託世做到女流原係可憫，況且青樓女子又試斷梗無根。好極繁華不過係陪酒箇陣。等到客散燈寒又試自己斷魂。有客就叫做姑娘無客就下等，一時冷淡把我作賤三分。或者遇着人客有情都重還有倚凭，鬼怕箇的無情醉漢就係攞命災瘟。大抵箇日落到青樓就從箇日種恨。唉，總係由得我著緊啫。總要捱到泪盡花殘就算做過一世人。」

Prithee, ponder a moment on predestined fate.
Why do I, in this life, sink into the red mundane dust?
Methinks committal to the world in woman’s sex of itself is pitiable.
The more, then, in green arbours does a girl suffer breaking of stalk and lack of root.
Splendour’s glamour lasts but during wassail over of the wine.
Wait till the guests scatter and the lamp grows cold, then you will feel heart-broken.
If I have a guest-gallant, then I am styled ‘my lady’: if none, then I am degraded.
An instant’s dullness makes me threefold viler.
If haply you meet an impassioned guest, then you still have some reliance.
But sorely I fear those unloving drunkards; they are as a blighting pest.
In fine, ‘twas from the day when I sank into the green arbour, that I sowed the seed of remorse.
Ah! Let me vent my spite!
Withal we must endure till flowers are bruised and tears run dry: e’er we have lived a single human life.

蝴蜨夢

• 《蝴蜨夢》 A butterfly dream
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

「蝴蜨夢，夢繞在花前。蜨呀！你為貪採名花故此夢得咁倒癲。我想人世遇着情魔就係情夢都會亂，一吓魂迷心醉就夢到孽海情天。況且相愛又試相連點信癡夢會短，定要追尋香夢向夢裏團圓。箇陣朝朝暮暮夢作神仙眷，離魂一枕夢當遊仙。睇佢綺夢係咁沈迷就呼喚都不轉，重要鴛鴦同夢化作並頭蓮。勢冇話夢幻本屬無憑人事會改變，點想一場春夢都是過眼雲煙。大抵夢境即是歡場勸你休要眷戀。唉！花夢易斷。今日夢醒人去遠，恨只恨意中心秖結一段夢中緣。」

The butterflies dream: they dream of circling round the flowers.
Butterfly! ‘Tis because you lust to ravish the famous flowers, that your dream is so frenzied.
Methinks, when mortal man meets passion madness, then even his pure dreams turn riotous.
Once the soul is bemused and the heart intoxicate, then its dream is of the sea of sin and of the heaven of passion.
Moreover, when love wins union, how can the insensate dream believe its brevity?
Indeed, it behoves you to seek for sweet dreams, and in the dream be close united:
Then day by day, and evening after evening, in dreams you will form a fairy family.
When soul-bereft I lie upon my pillow, I become in dreams peer of the wandering fairies.
Lo! His fantastic dreams are so steeped in trance, that, though I shout, he does not turn back.
The teal are wont, in united dream, to change into twin lotus-flowers on a single stalk.
Nay, say not that dream visions are in essence unsubstantial, and that human things may change.
How can I think that my spring-dream is but a transient cloud-vapour?
In fine, though dream-land be pleasure-land, I warn you cease from doting thereon.
Ah! The flower-dream easily is broken.
To-day, as I wake from my dream, my love is gone far away.
I grieve, I do but grieve, that the man of my heart was bound to me only by a dream-destiny.

月難圓

• 《月難圓》 The waxing moon
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

「花易落，月又難圓。花月情深就結下呢段孽冤。花月本係無情總係人地去綣戀，恨只恨佢催人容易老咯重去惹人憐。花若係有情就愁把月見，月你團圓得咁辛苦唎你話怎不心酸。月若係曉得憐香又點肯把花作賤，但得月輪長照住你就係花謝亦見心甜。總係共計十二箇月一年，月呀你亦不過圓十二遍。就係四時花信到咯亦不過向一時鮮，總係我地薄命如花難得月你見面。得到我對月開時又怕你缺了半邊，雖則月係咁難圓重有圓箇一日可〔⺮旲〕，花謝等到重開重要等隔一歲添。總係人遠在天涯就會對住花月自怨。唉！心緒亂，眼穿腸欲斷。君呀，重怕花開長對住你落咯月缺對住你長圓。」

Flowers fall easily: but the moon toilfully waxes round.
Flowers and moon have deep passion, therefore they are involved in this dire distress.
Flowers and moon of themselves are passionless, but men go doting upon them.
I grieve, I do but grieve, that both alike age men’s faces so hastily, and infect men with pity.
If flowers have passion, then sadly they gaze at the moon.
O Moon! Thou waxest round with such toil, how canst thou fail to make my heart sour?
If the moon knew how to pity fragrance, would she be willing to think slightingly of flowers?
But if the moon’s orb shine upon you long, then, though the flowers fade, yet you are in heart’s ease.
Though in all there be twelve months of the year, thine orb, O Moon, only twelve times waxes round:
And though flowers bloom in all four seaons, yet only for a moment they are fresh.
Since we are frail-fated as flowers, it is hard for us, O Moon, to look thee in the face:
If I look, yet when my blossom opens before thee, I fear thou wilt have lost half thine orb.
Though the moon wax round so toilfully, yet it is full, meseems, only for a day.
When the flowers fade, men wait till they reopen, but a whole year intervenes.
When our lover is far off at heaven’s verge, then we lament ourselves to flowers and moon.
Ah! The heart’s thread is tangled.
My eyes are strained: my heart is like to break.
My lord, I ever fear that constantly the open flowers will fall before your eyes, and constantly the waning moon wax round.

花易落

• 《花易落》 The flowers’ fall
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

「花易落，花又易開，咁好花顏問你看得幾回。好花慌久開唔耐，想到花殘我都願佢莫開。好極花容終會變改，你睇枝頭花落點得再上枝來。大抵種得情根花就可愛，總怕並頭花好又要分栽。鮮花咁好又怕遊蜂採，落花無主自見癡呆。記得花前發誓都話同恩愛，點想倚花沉醉有個薄行王魁。點得尋着箇箇花神拉住佢問句。唉！花在鏡內。究竟真情還是假愛，到底桃花箇種薄命問佢點樣子生來。」

Flowers fall easily, and as easily they open.
How often, prithee, can you see a bloom so lovely?
I sorely fear that fair flowers will not be open long:
And when I think of the flowers’ decay, I had rather they never bloomed at all.
A flower-face, howsoever beautiful, must change at last.
Look you! When the flower falls from the twig-top, how can it be set upon its stalk again?
In the end, if you plant passion’s root, then lovely are the flowers.
Yet I fear lest the twin blossoms of fair flowers be sundered in their planting.
The fresh flower is so fair, I fear the vagrant bees will ravish it.
Masterless the fallen flowers feel themselves grow numb.
I remember how before the flowers we swore an oath, saying, that our love should be one.
How could I then, reclining on flowers and steeped in wine, think that there are truants such as Wong Fui?
Would we could find the flower-spirit and hale him off to our questioning!
Ah! The flowers are but in the mirror.
Is it, after all, true passion or false love?
Prithee, what, in fine, is the birthright of beings frail-fated as the peach-blossom?

水會退

• 《水會退》 Ebb-tide
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

「水會退，又會番流。水呀，你既退又試番流，見你日夜不休。臨行自古話難分手，做乜分手到如今又在別處逗留。大抵人世相逢都憑個氣候，花行春令月到中秋。當初慌久情唔透，一講到情深總不顧後頭。在我都話會少離多情重更厚，唉君你想透，若係日日癡埋你話點做得女牛。」

The waters may ebb and may again flow back.
O waters, that ebb and again flow back! I see how day and night ye take no rest.
‘Tis an old saw that, when the time of parting comes, it is hard to unclasp hands.
Why then, since our parting, has my love sojourned elsewhere till now?
In fine there is a term of seasons which govern the meetings of men in this world:
Thus the flower-season is the springtide: while the moon reaches her fullness in the mid-autumn.
At first I was in deadly fear that passion would not persist.
Once the talk is of deep passion, the future is no more regarded.
In my view rare meetings and frequent partings do but heighten passion.
Ah! My lord, think it through!
If day by day we dote upon each other, how can we resemble the stars of the Cowherd and the Spinning Maid?

容乜易

• 《容乜易》（凡六） How easy it is! (six parts)
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

1. 「手包琵琶百感悲，做乜老來情事總不相宜。青春一去難提起，提起番來苦自知。一向癡迷唔肯料理，今日鏡中顏色自見嫌疑。人話風流老大還堪恃，試睇菊殘猶有傲霜枝。身世係咁飄蓬重爭乜硬氣，好似水流花謝渺渺無期。相思萬種從今止，無的味嘆聲容乜易，等我帶淚和情訴吓舊時。」

As I clasp the guitar in my hands, a hundred emotions thrill me with sadness.
Why, when age comes, is not passion consonant therewith?
Once youth has gone, its very mention irks.
If you mention it, yourself you feel the sting.
Till now infatuate I was loth to pay heed hereto:
But to-day I myself abhor the sight of my complexion in the mirror.
Men say, when wanton pleasure grows old, it still merits reliance:
For, lo! The bruised chrysanthemum has still some stalks that defy the frost.
The world corporeal wags waveringly, why strive to fulfil my ambition?
As the tide’s ebbing, so the flowers’ fading is without bound or date.
A myriad phases of affection cease from to-day.
All is savourless.
How easy it is to sigh!
Wait till, with tears and passion intermingled, I rehearse the story of past time.

2. 「容乜易過，在青樓歌舞歡場事事休。薄命紅頻天注就，減低情性學吓溫柔。至此春烟迷住章臺柳，任佢三起三眠總不愧羞。往日迎新今日送舊，蝶愛尋香點自由。只估買斷青春拏住手，綠雲深鎖不知秋。再冇話楊花重曉得去憐身後。心想透，恰被風拖逗，敢就化作浮萍逐水流。」

How easy is sin amid green arbours!
In the joyous abode of song and dance all traffic has ceased.
Heaven ordained that frail should be the fortune of rosy girlhood:
Therefore, I refrain and keep low my passionate nature; I copy gentleness for the nonce.
Till now the spring-vapours had bewitched the Chong-thoi Willow.
Though thrice a day she rise to receive her guests and thrice she sleep with them, still she feels no shame.
In the past she greeted new lovers, now she speeds the old.
Butterflies love quest of fragrance; how can they be content?
I do but think that, if I buy up the green spring and take hold thereof,
Then, even when the gray clouds lock close together, I shall know no autumn.
Again, say not that willow-blossoms can find pity after their bodies have died.
My heart has though this through.
As I speak I have suffered the wind to bear me along:
Thus I am transformed into duckweed drifting adown the stream.

3. 「容乜易，醉酒千盅，情有咁深時味有咁濃。我想冤家必定係前生種，種穩情根不肯放鬆。酒邊都要人珍重，莫話魂迷心亂兩下交融。大抵歡場過眼渾如夢，席散人歸萬事空。遁盞傳杯心事重，問你面上桃花有幾耐紅。今日霞觴滿酌唔知憑誰共，唉中乜用，未飲心先痛。一生遺恨誤入花叢。」

How easy it is to get drunken on a thousand bowls of wine,
When passion is so deep, and the flavour is so strong!
Methinks, the seed of distress surely is planted in a former life.
He whose love is firmly rooted will be loth to let its hold grow lax.
In his cups a man should prize soberness as a jewel.
Say not that, when soul is bemused and heart in riot, then man and woman are in harmony.
In fine, the place of joy is turbid as a dream in its transience.
When tables are drawn and guests go home, a myriad matters grow empty of import.
In bearing round the wineglass and offering the cup, emotion is intense.
But, prithee, how long will the bloom of the peach-blossom redden in my cheeks?
To-day I know not whom I can trust to drain with me the flushed bumper and the brimming wine.
Ah! Where is the use?
E’er ever I drink, my heart is sore.
‘Tis a whole life’s legacy of sorrow, to have erred into the company of flowers.

4. 「容乜易，放柳邊船，木蘭雙樂載住神仙。東風為我行方便，吹得情哥到我面前。鴛鴦共宿人人羨，好似兩顆明珠一線穿。滿意東君常見面，今生還結再生緣。正係藕絲縛住荷花片，一體同根冇乜變遷。唔想帆影就隨湘水轉。難遂願，線緊風箏斷。虧我流落在呢處天涯實在可憐。」

How easy it is to unmoor the ship from the willow bank!
Both oars are of maple wood: the crew are fairies.
The east wind blows favourably for me:
It wafts my lover to my presence.
The teal rest together: all men envy them.
As two beads of bright pearl are traversed by a single thread,
So my whole desire is ever to see my master’s face.
This life knots upon us the doom of our after-life,
Even as the root-fibres of the lily are bound up in the same birth as the petals of the lily-flower.
Since then one body with a single root abides unchanged,
I never thought that the shadow of your sail would thus turn the windings of the River Song.
‘Tis hard to fulfil my wish.
As the kite snaps its string, when taut,
So you have jilted me to fall here at heaven’s verge. Truly ‘tis pitiful!

5. 「容乜易散，彩雲飛。春帆頃刻就要分離。誰人肯願分連理，事到其間點樣子設施？早知割愛唔易，何苦當初一力護持，今日送別無言惟有淚人折盡柳干枝。長亭自古傷心地，你話後會何曾有定期。〔糹凡〕扇預防秋後棄，唉嗟命鄙，風流雲散易，箇陣欲捨難分恨亦己遲。」

How easy it is for the gay clouds to scatter and fly!
In an instant the spring sail must depart.
What man is he who fain would part branches that are intertwined?
When such a crisis comes, what measures can avail?
Betimes I learned that to sever love was no light or easy task.
Why did you at the first protect me with might and main?
Yet to-day have I sped your parting, wordless but in tears.
The parting lover snaps off a thousand willow-twigs:
And from of yore the road-stage has been a place of heart-ache.
Will any time, say you, hereafter be appointed for our meeting?
Since silk fans tarry their disuse at autumn’s close,
Ah! I groan for my niggard fate.
‘Tis easy for the wanton clouds to scatter.
But in that day, though you wish to go, it will be hard to part: even regret will come too late.

6. 「容乜易老！鬂蒼蒼，關心許記往日珠娘。秋風陣陣添惆悵，白滿船頭一夜霜。四條絃澁難成響，總係彈到情深怕惹恨長。淪落幾人同我一樣，不記起從前就不會慘傷。好花畢竟成飄蕩，叫我怎能禁得箇的蝶浪蜂狂。此後我孤零無乜倚向。唉！低自唱。還了風流賑，虧我手抱琵琶悶對夕陽。」

How easy it is for the hair on either temple to grow grey with age!
Is there any man whose heedful heart remembers the Pearl maid of bygone days?
Autumn winds time on time increase annoyance.
‘Tis a single night’s frost that has shrouded all the ship’s prow with white.
The lute’s four strings are dried up: scarce can a tone be drawn from them.
Yet, though you swept your passion’s depth from out the chords, I fear you will but tinge your mind with enduring grief.
How many another has sunk into my plight!
They that remember not the past, are neither bruised nor wounded.
The end of a fair flower is but to be littered by the wind at last.
Tell me, how can I hold in check the vagrant butterflies and the mad bees?
Hereafter I shall be forlorn with naught whereon to rely.
Ah! I sing softly to myself.
I have paid off my debt of wanton joy:
Yet you flout me, till, clasping the guitar in my hands, I sadly face the sunset.

煙花地

• 《煙花地》 （凡二） The land of flowers and vapour (two parts)
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

1. 「烟花地，想起就心慈，中年情事點講得過人知。好命鑄定仙花亦都唔種在此地，縱然誤種亦指望有的更移。今日花柳風波我都嘗到透味，況且歡場逝水更易老花枝。既係命薄如花亦都偷怨吓自己，想到老來花謝總要穩的挨依。唉我想花謝正望到人地塟花亦都係希罕事，總要花開佢憐憫我正叫做不負佳期。細想年少未得登科到老難以及第，況且秋來花事總總全非。今日我命鑄定為花就算開落過世，你試問花，花呀誰愛你？佢都冇的偏私。花若有情就要情到底，風雲月露正係我地情痴。至到人地賞花憎愛我都不理。仙種子，休為凡心死。我為偶還花債故此暫別吓瑤池。」

The land of flowers and vapour! When I think thereof, my heart goes out in loathing.
How can I tell men the love-story of my middle-age?
Had good fate cast me in the mould of a fairy flower, I had not been planted in this soil.
But since I am planted amiss, I hope for change and transfer.
To-day I have tasted the flavour alike of flower and willow, wind and wave.
Moreover, if the haunts of pleasure are drained dry, the flower-stalk will but shrivel the more easily.
Since then my fate is frail as a flower, I secretly bemoan myself:
I reflect that age comes and flower wither, therefore I must find something whereon I may rely.
Ah! Methinks that, when flowers wither, there is hope that men will bury them: yet even that is rare.
So, while the bloom is full-blown, he should pity me; thus he would not spurn beauty’s season.
I bethink me that he who does not matriculate in youth, will find it hard in old age to gain his degree.
Moreover, when autumn comes the plight of flowers is all, all evil.
To-day fate has destined me to be a flower; therefore meseems in bud and fall of blossom I shall pass my life.
Ask of flowers: — ‘O Flowers, who loves you?’
Flowers have nothing selfish in their nature.
If flowers have love, then they must love to the end.
Wind, cloud, moon, dew, — of such stuff are our infatuate passions.
I set no store by the hate or love of those who praise flowers:
For magic is my seed.
Stay then! Nor die for the sake of vulgar passion.
Because I chance to be paying my flowr-debts, hence am I for the nonce cut off from fairyland.

2. 「烟花地，苦海茫茫，從來難穩箇有情郎。迎新送舊不過還花賬，有誰惜玉與及憐香？我在風流陣上係咁從頭想，有個知心人仔害我縱死難忘。有陣丟疎外面似極無心向，獨係心中懷念你我暗地淒涼，今晚寂寥空對住烟花上。唉！休要亂想！共你有心都是惡講，我斷唔孤負你個一點情長。」

In the land of flower and smoke there is a wide, wide sea of bitterness.
Though you search, yet it is hard to find a lover therein.
‘Tis but payment of our flower-debts, to welcome the new and speed the old.
Are there any who pity gems and grieve for fragrance?
In the war of wanton joy, I bethought myself from the first,
That, though my sweetheart wrong me, yet till death I shall scarce forget him.
At times I spurn him: my face shows no outward sign of my thought’s trend.
Only in my heart, when I think of you, I suffer hidden misery.
To-day in loneliness I vainly turn towards smoke and flower.
Ah! Stop these wild desires!
Though my heart is one with yours, I find it hard to speak.
I trow, I will not flout your constant love.

花有淚

• 《花有淚》 The tears of flowers
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

「花有淚，月本無恨。月呀，你照見我地花容瘦有幾分？可惜月呀你有圓時我地花總係會褪，就俾你桂香輪滿都係有影無根。我想花信不過二十四番，容乜易盡遇著風狂雨驟敢就斷送了我終身。個陣你在九霄雲外縱有心相印，總係東西尋逐點顧得我地墮溷飄茵。莫謂過眼烟花無乜要緊，獨惜被人攀折未免想起吓來因。呢陣雲路係咁迢遙，我亦知相託都冇分。唉！心不忍。試把嬋娟問，問你廣寒宮有幾濶咯，點塟得咁多冇主花魂？」

The flowers have tears: the moon herself is scathless.
O Moon, thou seest how shrunken our flower-face has grown.
Pity that when thou, O Moon, art full, we flowers are wont to fade.
So, though thy cassia be fragrant and thine orb be round, thou hast a shadow but no root in reality.
Methinks the season of blossoming is but one score and four solar terms: how easy it is, then, to reach the end thereof!
The shock of wild wind and quick rain drives broken my whole body.
In that day thou, in the ninth heaven beyond the clouds, still wilt bear the heart’s mutual imprint.
Albeit thou seek east and west, how canst thou save us from falling in a littered mat of petals?
Say not that the transient flowers and vapour are of no moment.
I only grieve that I have suffered men to pluck me down and snap me: I cannot but think of my past fate.
Now the cloud-roads are so distant, that I know entreaty to be useless.
Ah! My heart is impatient.
Let me ask of the lovely Maid in the Moon:
‘Prithee, how spacious is the mansion of Kwong Hon Kung, that it can entomb so many masterless flower-spirits?’

鏡花

• 《鏡花》 Mirrored flowers
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

我唔願照鏡又不想貪花，鏡光花影都係過眼烟霞。鏡會憐香就愛花作畫，花容偷睡就在鏡裡為家。有陣花能解語請入屏間話，幸得花愛臨敉又向住他。若係有鏡無花春色就減價，若係有花無鏡又怕春信難查。點得鏡係咁長圓花又不嫁。唉！真定假？你睇桂影長春愛任月華。

I am loth to look in my mirror: I would fain not envy the flowers.
The flowers’ shadow on the bright mirror is but as a transient rainbow haze.
The mirror pities fragrance, therefore it loves flowers to form its picture.
The flowers’ eyes have secretly fallen asleep, thus making the mirror their home.
Sometimes the flowers can converse, then I bid them speak with me in the pier-glass.
If by good chance the flowers love waiting at toilet, so may we gaze upon them.
Have you a mirror, but no flowers? Then spring’s colour loses in value.
Have you flowers, but no mirror? Then spring-love’s faith will be hard to test.
How comes it that the mirror’s orb is always perfect, yet the flowers are not wed?
Ah! Is it true or false?
Look you! The cassia shadow in eternal spring loves ever the splendour of the moon.

楊花

• 《楊花》 Willow-blossoms
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

「紛紛酒淚，淚盡楊花，你有幾多愁恨記在心懷。我想別樣花飛無乜掛帶，單係你替人承受呢一段薄命冤家。佢話香國係咁繁華真正冇價，點忿俾狂風吹散咁就賤過泥沙？你睇月呀係咁樣團圓都會變卦，縱有千金難買九十韶華。我若勸你勘破春心唔恨亦假，你縱春愁如海亦都枉自嗟呀。不若我苦命楊花同你哭罷。唉！風任擺墮絮無心化，等我替你萬花垂淚酒偏天涯。」

At random rain my tears: my tears all fall for willow-blossoms.
How many a sorrow and regret have you recorded in your hear of hearts!
Methinks that I reck nothing, when other flowers are blown:
Since it is you alone who for men’s sake suffer distress from fortune’s frailty.
They say the land of fragrance is so resplendent that truly it passes price:
How, then, can I tamely let the mad wind blow its flowers petal from petal, making it viler than mud or sand?
See! The moon’s orb is so round, yet must its outline change –
A thousand pieces of gold cannot buy ninety years of youthfulness.
Did I counsel you to test and destroy your spring-love, ‘twere false to say you would not bear me the grudge.
You open the flood-gates of sorrow: but vain are your sighs.
‘Twere better that I, an ill-fated willow-blossom, should join my sobs with yours.
Ah! Let the wind whirl!
The fallen catkins have no wish for change.
Stay! Let my tears flow for you, ye myriad flowers, like rain o’er the whole horizon.

多情雁

• 《多情雁》The love-lorn geese
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

「多情雁，一對向南飛。雁呀！秋風何苦重咁遠飄離。你在江湖留落尚有雌雄侶，虧我影隻形單異地棲。風急衣單無路寄，寒衣做起誤落空閨。日日望到夕陽我就愁倍起，只見一圍衰柳鎖住長隄。又見人影一鞭殘照裡，幾回錯認是我郎歸。唉我思想起，想必紅塵擔誤了你。點得雲歛風晴共你際會期。」

The love-lorn geese fly southward two by two.
O geese! Why will ye still be wafted on autumn winds away so far?
Denizens of river and lake, ye ever nest male and female together.
But my love flouts me by sojourning a lonely shadow and a forlorn shape in a strange land.
The wind is fierce: his raiment scanty: yet I have no way by which to send him more:
His winter clothes I made are left wasted in an empty chamber.
Day by day I look towards the evening sun: then my grief is multiplied.
I do but see a fence of drooping willows locking in the long dyke:
And I have seen the whip-like shadow of a man in the fading daylight:
Many a time did I mistake it for my lover coming home.
Ah! I fall a-thinking.
I bethink me that it is indeed the red mundane dust which has clogged you.
O that, when clouds are all ingathered, and winds are still, I might one day rejoin you!

傳書雁

• 《傳書雁》 The carrier goose
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

「傳書雁，共我帶書還。唔見佢書還你便莫箇番。今日不見回書大抵佢心事都有限，抑或你帶書唔仔細失落鄉關。縱使佢愁極寫書心事懶，有書唔寄你便達一紙空函。等我一張白紙當佢言千萬，二人心照盡在不言間。呢陣不見回書空見雁返。唉！雁O罷雁，你亦不必傳書柬。等我照樣不回書信你便去見箇箇薄情男。」

O carrier goose! Bring me an answering letter!
If I see no answering letter from him, thou wert better not return.
To-day I see no reply: maybe his love has in fine its limit:
Or perchance thou bearest letters carelessly, and hast lost them in country-side or at city-barrier.
Should he be in deep sorrow, but indolent in writing letters;
Then, if he has unsent letters written in his mind, bring me the empty cover.
So will I, spreading out the blank paper, imagine it holds ten thousand, thousand words:
For each of our two hearts is as a mirror to the other’s thoughts, even though no words be spoken.
This time I see no message of reply: letterless I see the goose return.
Ah! Goose; ah! Goose!
Thou art no certain presage of a letter-card.
Wait! I will likewise write him no reply: go now, visit my fickle lover!

孤飛雁

• 《孤飛雁》 The mateless goose
招子庸輯，金文泰譯

「孤飛雁，驚醒獨眠人，起來愁對月三更。擔頭細把征源問，你欲往何方得咁夜深。雌雄有伴你便跟應緊，呢陣影隻形單問你點樣子去尋？我地天涯人遠難親近，有翼都難飛去爪得佢親。無計夢中尋到箇薄行，又俾你哀聲撩醒未講得幾句時文。捨得帶佢一紙書來我亦唔捨得把你怨恨，累得我醒後無書夢裡又別君。意欲話好夢可以再尋我還向夢穩，又怕茫茫烟水渺渺無憑。唉！真正肉緊，凄涼誰見憫？呢陣衡陽聲斷問你點覓同羣？」

The goose flying alone startles into wakefulness the solitary sleeper.
Arising at the third watch I gaze sadly at the moon.
Then raising my head I question closely the nomad goose:
Whither away at dead of night?
Hen-bird and cock-bird ever fly together: thou, then, shouldst follow near thy mate.
But now thy shadow is solitary: thou appearest alone: prithee, what manner of quest is thine?
We, whose lover is far distant at heaven’s verge, find it hard to meet:
Though we had wings, it still were hard to swoop and catch him in our talons.
No means have I of finding yon truant in my dreams:
And though with doleful cry thou stir me to wakefulness, yet brief are thy tidings.
Didst thou bring a letter from him, then I should be loth to blame thee.
Thou hast done amiss in waking me, yet bringing no letter: thou hast parted me from my lord in dreams.
Fain would I, if I found again a good dream, go in my lover’s quest a-dreaming.
But I fear that in the vast waste of vapour and water there will be no vestige at all.
Ah! Truly my flesh is eager.
Who feels pity for my anguish?
The sound of this band of geese has faded over Hang-yong: prithee, how wilt thou find the whole troop?

樓頭月

• 《樓頭月》 The moon above the gable
招子庸作，金文泰譯

「樓頭月，掛在畫欄邊。月呀！做乜照人離別偏要自己團圓？學你一月一遍團圓你妹重唔係乜願，何況天涯搖隔愈見心酸。人話好極都要丟開唔好咁綣戀，大抵久別相逢重好過在前。雖則我心事係咁丟開總係情實在惡斷，第一夜來重難禁得夢魂癲。我想死別生離亦唔差得幾遠，但得早一日逢君自願命短一年。天呀，雖乃係好事多磨亦該留我一綫。唉！做乜唔得就算。不若當初唔見面，免得我一生遺恨。月呀！你對住我長圓。」

The moon above the gable seems riveted in the side of the pictured balcony.
O Moon! Why, when thou shinest upon men’s partings, is thy own orb so perversely round?
Yet I am loth even to be like thee, whose consummation comes but once a month:
How much more, then, is my heart embittered because my love and I are set poles apart?
Men say a chattel, however good, must be cast aside: ‘tis ill to dote thus upon anything:
For that the meeting which ends long parting knits love closer than in bygone days.
Though then my heart be thus spurned, yet it were hard indeed to sever my love.
For, chiefly, ‘tis hard at nightfall to withhold my dreaming soul from madness.
Methinks death’s parting and severance in life do not differ widely:
Therefore could I meet my lord a day earlier, then I would fain suffer my life to be shortened by a year.
Heaven! Though indeed good things are but the more ground down by evil, yet thou shouldest leave me a thread of hope.
Ah! Why can I not realize my reckoning?
‘Twere better at the first never to have seen your face.
So should I have been spared a bequest of lifelong sorrow, while the moon constantly grows full before my eyes.

天邊月

• 《天邊月》 The moon at heaven’s verge
招子庸作，金文泰譯

「天邊月，似簾鈎，泛在長江任去流。月呀！你有團圓人自會等候，總係眼前虧缺恨難收。我想人世咁長唔得咁就手，大抵好極人生都有一樣愁。你睇文君新寡重去尋佳偶，班姬團扇尚悲秋。唉！心想透。待等八月中旬候。月呀，總有一箇團圓却在後頭。」

The moon at heaven’s verge is like a sickle hook;
Its shimmer floats on the long river and, nothing loth, flows down the stream.
O Moon! You have a time when your orb will be full: men can await that day.
Yet it is hard to check regret for the wane we see before our eyes.
Methinks, since human generations are so long-lived, they cannot all be towardly:
At its close a man’s life, though goodly, yet has one phase of sorrow.
Look you! Man-kwan, new widowed, still goes in quest of a good match.
On the round fan of Pan Ke a lament for autumn is still inscribed.
Ah! My heart has pondered this throughly.
Wait till the mid-decade of the eighth month is past.
O Moon! Thereafter your orb will surely grow round once more.

無情月

• 《無情月》 The loveless moon
招子庸作，金文泰譯

無情月挂在奈何天，思嫌月照住我孤眼。月呀，你有缺時還有復轉，做乜我郎一去得咁心堅。哀求月老為我行方便，照見我即試問一句，睇佢點樣子回言。若是佢心歪唔記念，呌佢手按住良心睇一吓天。做人唔好做得咁心肝變，你唔記如今亦都記吓在前。為郎終日腸牽斷，呌我點能學得箇箇朋裡嬋娟。捨得相逢學月敢易見箇無情面，我唔怕路遠，定要去到問明佢心事見點。免使虛擔人世呢段假意姻緣。

The loveless moon is set in the inexorable sky.
When I think of you, I am loth that the moon should shine on my lonely sleep.
O Moon! At times thou dost dwindle; at times thou art full again:
Why then does my spouse, once gone, harden ever his heart towards me?
Plaintively I entreat the old man in the moon to come to my succour:
Even, when shining upon my lord, to ask him a question and see how he will retort.
If his heart is awry, and he remembers me no more,
Bid him lay hand on heart and look up to heaven.
Are you a man? Then you should not be so fickle of heart and mood.
You remember not the present, remember at least the past.
My heart is all day long racked in suspense because of my lord.
Tell me, how can I rival the graceful maiden in the moon?
If, when we two meet, I could see his heartless face as easily as does the moon,
I should not fear the length of the road:
Certes, I should go ask him plainly concerning his heart’s purpose,
Lest I vainly flaunt in this mortal world a pretence of married love.