Poems of an Afterlife Encounter, together with Dugu Mu, Linzi County Magistrate - PART C

(3) Poem of the Lai Family Singer
In Pinyang County, mid the trees,
Long has flourished the dust from Guangling.
We didn’t think what youth might come—
The Yellow Springs see spring again.

(4) Recited by Mu to the County Magistrate, as was Courteous
The gold boudoir, long without master,
Where fine silk sleeves were born of the dust.
I wish you were my flute-playing partner:
Together we’d ride phoenixes.

(5) Poem of the County Magistrate Betrothing Herself to Mu
Beneath the crimson carriage, the road is long—
Green grass begins upon the lonely grave.
It’s better, though, than on the balcony
Watching in vain the clouds from dawn to dusk.

平阳县中树，
久作广陵尘。
不意何郎至，
黄泉重见春。〈来家歌人诗〉

金闺久无主，
罗袂坐生尘。
愿作吹箫伴，
同为骑凤人。〈穆讽县主就礼〉

朱轩下长路，
青草启孤坟。
犹胜阳台上，
空看朝暮云。〈县主许穆诗〉

Note on the third poem: Wait, now we’re in Pinyang County in Zhejiang? I’m confused. The Springs/spring pun is not in the original, and hard to avoid in translation.

Note on the fourth poem: The last two lines refer to a romantic incident from the Warring States period involving a musician and the daughter of the Duke of Qin who met in their dreams and, admiring each other’s flute-playing, eventually married. According to legend, they eventually rode phoenixes into immortality, but according to the traditional histories, they had become too popular (and made music too popular) for the legalistic and militaristic Qin state apparatus to accept, so were forced to live in seclusion. (Yes, there totally are operas about this story. Like, duh.)

Note on the fifth poem: The phrase “lonely grave” can specifically mean a grave for a married couple where only one is buried because the other is alive.

---L.