In the run-up to the Chinese New Year celebrations, I managed to get hold of those great poems from 红楼梦 – Dream of the Red Mansion in English.
I wanted to share them with you because I think they rank among the best poems ever and they do not get the praise they deserve.

Let me know if you like them as much as I do! 😉

红楼梦引子　

开辟鸿蒙，谁为情种？
都只为风月情浓。
趁着这奈何天，伤怀日，寂寥时，试遣愚衷。
因此上，演出这怀金悼玉的《红楼梦》。

FIRST SONG: Prologue To The Dream of the Red Mansion

At the dawn of creation
Who sowed the seeds of love?
From the strong passion of breeze and moonlight they came.
So in this world of sweet longingOn a day of distress, in an hour of loneliness,
Fain would I impact my senseless grief
By singing this Dream of Red Mansions
To mourn the Gold and the Jade.

终身误

都道是金玉良姻，俺只念木石前盟。
空对着，山中高士晶莹雪，终不忘，世外仙姝寂寞林。
叹人间，美中不足今方信。
纵然是齐眉举案，到底意难平。

SECOND SONG: A Life Misspent

Well-matched, all say, the gold and the jade;
I alone recall the pledge between plant and stone.
Vainly facing the hermit in sparking snow-clad hills
I forgot not the fairy in lone woods beyond the world.
I sigh, learning that no man’s happiness in complete;
Even a pair thought well-matchedMay find disappointment.

枉凝眉　

一个是阆苑仙葩，一个是美玉无瑕。
若说没奇缘，今生偏又遇着他，
若说有奇缘，如何心事终虚化？
一个枉自嗟呀，一个空劳牵挂。
一个是水中月，一个是镜中花。
想眼中能有多少泪珠儿，
怎经得秋流到冬，春流到夏！

THIRD SONG: Vain Longing

One is an immortal flower of fairyland, the other fair flawless jade.
And were it not predestined, why should they meet again in this existence?
Yet, if predestined, why does their love come to nothing?
One signs to no purpose, the other yearns in vain.
One is the moon reflected in the water, the other but a flower in the mirror.
How many tears can well from autumn till winter, from spring till summer?

恨无常　

喜荣华正好，恨无常又到。
眼睁睁，把万事全抛。
荡悠悠，把芳魂消
耗。望家乡，路远山高。
故向爹娘梦里相寻告：
儿命已入黄泉，天伦呵，
须要退步抽身早！

FOURTH SONG: The Transience of Life

At the height of honour and splendour, Death comes for her;
Opened-eyed, she has to leave everything behind
As her gentle soul passes away.
So far her home beyond the distant mountains
That in a dream she finds and tells her parents;
“Your child has gone now to the Yellow Spring;
you must find a retreat before it is too late.”

分骨肉　

一帆风雨路三千，把骨肉家园齐来抛闪。
恐哭损残年，告爹娘，休把儿悬念：
自古穷通皆有定，离合岂无缘？
从今分两地，各自保平安。
奴去也，莫牵连。

FIFTH SONG: Separation From Dear Ones

Three thousand Li she must sail through wind and rain,
Giving up her home and her own flesh and blood;
But afraid of distress their declining years with tears
She tells her parents : “Don’t grieve for your child.
From of old good luck and bad have been predestined,
Parting and reunions are decreed by fate;
Although from now on we shall dwell far apart,
Let us still live at peace;
Don’t worry over your unworthy daughter.”

乐中悲　

襁褓中，父母叹双亡。
纵居那绮罗丛，谁知娇养？
幸生来，英豪阔大宽宏量，
从未将儿女私情略萦心上。
好一似，霁月光风耀玉堂。
厮配得才貌仙郎，博得个地久天长，
准折得幼年时坎坷形状。
终久是云散高唐，水涸湘江：
这是尘寰中消长数应当，何必枉悲伤！

SIXTH SONG: Sorrow Amidst Joy

She is still in her cradle when her parents die,
Although living in luxury who will dote on her?
Happily she is born too courageous and open-hearted
Ever to take a love affair to heart.
Like bright moon and fresh breeze in a hall of jade
She is matched with a talented and handsome husband;
May she live with him for long years
To make up for her wretched childhood!
But over the kaotang Tower the clouds disperse,
The river Hsiang runs dry.
This is the common fate of mortal men
Useless it is repine.

世难容　

气质美如兰，才华阜比仙。天生成孤癖人皆罕。
你道是啖肉食腥膻，视绮罗俗厌，却不知太高人愈妒，过洁世同嫌。
可叹这，青灯古殿人将老，辜负了，红粉朱楼春色阑。
到头来，依旧是风尘肮脏违心愿。
好一似，无瑕白玉遭泥陷，又何须，王孙公子叹无缘。

SEVENTH SONG: Spurned By The World

By nature fair as an orchid
With talents to match an immortal,
Yet so eccentric that all marvel at her.
To her, rich food stinks.
Silken raiment is vulgar and loathsome;
She knows not that superiority fosters hatred,
Her powder and red chamber, her youth and beauty wasted,
To end, despite herself, defiled on the dusty road,
Even as lawless white jade dropped in the mud.
In vain young scions of noble houses will sigh for her.

喜冤家

中山狼，无情兽，全不念当日根由。
一味的骄奢淫荡贪欢媾。
觑着那，侯门艳质同蒲柳，作践的，公府千金似下流。
叹芳魂艳魄，一载荡悠悠。

EIGHTH SONG: Union of Enemies

A mountain wolf, a savage ruthless beast,
Mindless of past obligationsGives himself up to pride, luxury and license,
Holding cheap the charms of a noble family’s daughter,
Trampling on the precious child of a ducal mansion.
Alas, in less than a year her sweet soul fades away.

虚花悟

将那三春看破，桃红柳绿待如何？
把这韶华打灭，觅那清淡天和。
说什么，天上夭桃盛，云中杏蕊多。
到头来，谁把秋捱过？
则看那，白杨村里人呜咽，青枫林下鬼吟哦。
更兼着，连天衰草遮坟墓。
这的是，昨贫今富人劳碌，春荣秋谢花折磨。
似这般，生关死劫谁能躲？
闻说道，西方宝树唤婆娑，上结着长生果。

NINTH SONG: Perception of The Transience of Flowers

She will see through the three Spring and set no store
By the red of peach-blossom, the green of willows,
To savour the limpid peace of a clear sky.
Though the peach runs riot against the sky.
Though the clouds teem with apricot blossom.
Who has seen any flower that can win safely through autumn?
Even now mourners are lamenting by groves of poplars,
Ghosts are wiling below green maples,
And the weeds above their graves stretch to the skyline.

Truly, changes in fortune are the cause of men’s toil,
Spring blooming and autumn withering the fate of flowers.
Who can escape the gate of birth, the fate of death?
Yet in the west, they say grows the sal tree
Which bears the fruit of immortality.
A pun meaning the three months of spring and the three elder Chia　
girls. All the Chia girls had the character spring in their names.
It was said that Sakyamuni (Buddha) attained Buddhahood in a grove of sal trees.

聪明累　

机关算尽太聪明，反算了卿卿性命。
生前心已碎，死后性空灵。
家富人宁，终个有，家亡人散各奔腾。
枉费了，意悬悬半世心；
好一似，荡悠悠三更梦。
忽喇喇似大厦倾，昏惨惨似灯将尽。
呀！一场欢喜忽悲辛。
叹人世，终难定！

THENTH SONG: Ruined By Cunning

Too much cunning in plotting and scheming
Is the cause of her own undoing;
While yet living her heart is broken
And after death all her subtlety comes to nothing.
A rich house, all its members at peace,
Is ruined at last and scattered;
In vain her anxious thought for half a lifetime,
For like a disturbing dream at dead of night,
Like the thunderous collapse of a great mansion,
Or the flickering of a lamp that gutters out,
Mirth is suddenly changed to sorrow.
Ah, nothing is certain in the world of men.

留余庆

留余庆，留余庆，忽遇恩人，幸娘亲，幸娘亲，积得阴功。
劝人生，济困扶穷，休似俺那爱银钱忘骨肉的狠舅奸兄！
正是乘除加减，上有苍穹。

ELEVENTH SONG: A Little Act of Kindness

Thanks to one small act of kindness
She meets by chance a grateful friend;
Fortunate that her mother
Has done some unnoticed good.
Men should rescue the distressed and aid the poor,
Be not like her heartless uncle or treacherous cousin
Who for love of money forget their own flesh and blood.
Truly, rewards and punishments are meted out by Heaven.

晚韶华

镜里恩情，更那堪梦里功名！
那美韶华去之何迅！再休提锈帐鸳衾。
只这带珠冠，披凤袄，也抵不了无常性命。
虽说是，人生莫受老来贫，也须要阴骘
积儿孙。气昂昂，头戴簪缨，光灿灿，胸悬金印；
威赫赫爵，禄高登，昏惨惨，黄泉路近！
问古来将相可还存？也只是虚名儿与后人钦敬。

TWELFTH SONG: Splendour Comes Too Late

Love is only a reflection in a mirror,
Worse still, rank and fame are nothing but a dream,
So quickly youth and beauty fade away.
Say no more of embroidered curtain and love-bird quilts,
Nor can a pearl tiara and phoenix jacket
Stave off for long Death’s summons.
Though it is said that old age should be free from want,
This depends on the unknown merits laid by for one’s children.
Jubilant in official headdress
And glittering with a gold seal of high office,
A man may be awe-inspiring and exalted,
But the gloomy way to the Yellow Spring is near.
What remains of the generals and statesmen of old?
Nothing but an empty name admired by posterity.

好事终

画梁春尽落香尘。
擅风情，秉月貌，便是败家的根本。
箕裘颓堕皆从敬，家事消亡首罪宁。
宿孽总因情！

THIRTEENTH SONG: Good Thing Come To An End

Fragrant dust falls from painted beams at the close of spring;
By nature passionate and fair as the moon,
Her true root is of the family’s destruction.
The decline of the old tradition starts with Jing,
The chief blame for the house’s ruin rests with Ning,
All their sins come about through Love.

飞鸟各投林

为官的，家业雕零；
富贵的，金银散尽；
有恩的，死里逃生；
无情的，分明报应。
欠命的，命己还；
欠泪的，泪已尽。
冤冤相报自非轻，
分离聚合皆前定。
欲知命短问前生，
老来富贵也真侥幸。
看破的，遁入空门；
痴迷的，枉送了性命。
好一似食尽鸟投林，
落了片白茫茫大地真干净!

EPILOGUE: The Birds Scatter To The Wood

An official household declines,
Rich nobles’ wealth is spent.
She who did good escapes the jaws of death,
The heartless meet with certain retribution.
Those who took a life have paid with their own lives,
The tears one owed have all been requited in kind,
Not light the retribution for sins against others;
All are predestined, parting and reunions.
Seek the cause of untimely death in a past existence,
Lucky she who enjoys rank and riches in old age;
Those who see through the world escape from the world.
While foolish lovers forfeit their lives for nothing.
When the food is gone the birds return to the wood;
All that’s left is emptiness and a great void.

A small note about 红楼梦 – Dream of the Red Mansion

That’s it for now! I hope you enjoyed those poems from 红楼梦 – Dream of the Red Mansion. The Dream of the Red Mansion is ranked among the 4 classics of Chinese literature and I urge you to read it, should you be interested in discovering more about Chinese culture.