Listening to...

发如雪
Snow-like hair

Using my so limited literary talents, I had taken liberty at a bold translation of a very beautiful song. Its actually not so much of the song, but the lyrics of the song which had almost brought me to tears. The literary talents of the person whom had written its lyrics, had made me proud of my lineage and the way which chinese words could be expressed in such a beautiful expression of the soul.

and here I present the translation...

狼牙月 伊人憔悴
Wolf fanged moon, thine dear one is waned and sallow

我举杯 饮尽了风雪
Raising the cup, drinking in the wind and snow

是谁打翻前世柜
Whom overturned the cabinet of past lives?

惹尘埃是非
Raising the dust of dispute

缘字诀 几番轮回
Predestined riddle of fate of unending reincarnations

你锁眉 哭红颜唤不回
Frowning, crying over a lover whom would not return

纵然青史已经成灰
Even if the annals of history had turned to dust

我爱不灭
My love would never end

繁华如三千东流水
Grandeur like three thousand streams flowing east

我只取一瓢爱了解
Yet I chose a ladle of love to comprehend

只恋你化身的蝶
Longing only for your butterfly incarnate

你发如雪 凄美了离别
Your hair like snow, a chillingly beautiful parting

我焚香感动了谁
Whom is touched by thine burning incense?

邀明月让回忆皎洁
Welcoming the bright moon, enhance my memories bright and clear

爱在月光下完美
Love becomes immaculate underneath the moonlight

你发如雪 纷飞了眼泪
Your hair like snow, a torrent of tears

我等待苍老了谁
Whom had been aged by thine waiting?

红尘醉 微醺的岁月
Within the world of intoxicated mortals in an drunken era

我用无悔 刻永世爱你的碑
With my unending regret, carving a tablet representing my eternal love for thy...


To be honest... I do believe that no matter how talented I am.. I will never be able to capture the essence of the lyrics in another language apart from its original. What I had managed to translate here, had been done in the context of the song.. the feelings that were rendered into me when it was played. As such, I had not made a literal translation of the song, which would undoubtedly... destroyed this beautiful song and disgraced what the author had in mind when he had written it..

This lyrics were written by

方文山
Fang Wen Shan

For those whom do not understand chinese or whom had the predetermined idea that chinese could never be written in a beautifully poetic manner.. *smiles* well.. I would only say that the loss is yours...