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A host of mountains, ten-thousand chasms, all attend Mt. Jingmen.
As she grew up, that bright consort still held that hamlet dear.
Alone she left from Zitai Palace to join the northern desert—
Alone she stays in that grassy tomb facing the yellow twilight.
A painting can’t express the essence of her spring-breeze face,
That ornament married off in vain, a spirit beneath the moon.
A thousand years have passed, and still our pipas sound Hu notes:
Clearly her resentment is completely justified.
咏怀古迹 之三
群山万壑赴荆门，
生长明妃尚有村。
一去紫台连朔漠，
独留青冢向黄昏。
画图省识春风面，
环佩空归月下魂。
千载琵琶作胡语，
分明怨恨曲中论。
Wang Zhaojun, one of the Four Great Beauties, was born near Mt. Jingmen (see #101) and spent time as a minor imperial concubine of Han Emperor Yuan before being diplomatically married off to the Chanyu of the Xiongnu Empire. Zitai (“amethyst terrace”) Palace was a Han imperial residence. After her husband died, she petitioned Han Emperor Cheng to return but instead was ordered to marry his brother and successor. She eventually died in the northern steppes, and a grassy mound near modern Hohhot, Inner Mongolia is still recognized as her memorial tumulus (see also #164 and #277). She is especially associated with playing the pipa (at the time, any of several lute-like instruments), and is usually depicted holding one, and songs about her have often been set to pipa accompaniment. Idiom: ornament is more fully “bracelets (and) girdle ornaments,” a metonymy for a beautiful woman.
Yeah okay, “Poetic Thoughts” it is.
---L.
As she grew up, that bright consort still held that hamlet dear.
Alone she left from Zitai Palace to join the northern desert—
Alone she stays in that grassy tomb facing the yellow twilight.
A painting can’t express the essence of her spring-breeze face,
That ornament married off in vain, a spirit beneath the moon.
A thousand years have passed, and still our pipas sound Hu notes:
Clearly her resentment is completely justified.
咏怀古迹 之三
群山万壑赴荆门，
生长明妃尚有村。
一去紫台连朔漠，
独留青冢向黄昏。
画图省识春风面，
环佩空归月下魂。
千载琵琶作胡语，
分明怨恨曲中论。
Wang Zhaojun, one of the Four Great Beauties, was born near Mt. Jingmen (see #101) and spent time as a minor imperial concubine of Han Emperor Yuan before being diplomatically married off to the Chanyu of the Xiongnu Empire. Zitai (“amethyst terrace”) Palace was a Han imperial residence. After her husband died, she petitioned Han Emperor Cheng to return but instead was ordered to marry his brother and successor. She eventually died in the northern steppes, and a grassy mound near modern Hohhot, Inner Mongolia is still recognized as her memorial tumulus (see also #164 and #277). She is especially associated with playing the pipa (at the time, any of several lute-like instruments), and is usually depicted holding one, and songs about her have often been set to pipa accompaniment. Idiom: ornament is more fully “bracelets (and) girdle ornaments,” a metonymy for a beautiful woman.
Yeah okay, “Poetic Thoughts” it is.
---L.