長干行 (妾髮初覆額)

Song of Gan Gan (My hair first covered my forehead)

A Ballad of Changgan (My Hair Was First Forehead-length)

My hair was first forehead-length,

I plucked flowers, playing by the door.

You rode a bamboo horse up,

We circled the bed, green plums in hand.

We lived together in Changgan Lane,

Two little ones, no doubt between us.

At fourteen I became your wife,

My bashful face had never yet looked up.

I bowed my head toward the dark wall,

A thousand calls, not once did I answer.

At fifteen my brows unfurled,

I wished to be dust and ashes with you.

I kept faith like the man who hugged the pillar—

How could I ever mount the Gaze-at-Husband's Tower?

At sixteen you journeyed far away,

To Qutang Gorge and the Yanyu Rock.

In May the waters may not be touched,

The apes cry mournfully from heaven.

Before the door, the traces of your past going,

One by one, green moss grew over them.

The moss grew thick, I could not sweep it,

And early the autumn wind brought falling leaves.

In August the butterflies came, yellow,

Flying in pairs over the grass in the western garden.

This wounded my heart—

I sat grieving that my rosy youth was fading.

Whenever you depart for Sanba,

Send a letter ahead to my home.

I will come to meet you, however far the road,

All the way to Changfengsha.