The Language of Love 爱情的语言

I'll concede Mandarin probably wasn't the first language to pop into your head after reading the title, but for the Chinese, love songs and love poetry go back as far as literature itself. The Classic of Poetry (also known as the Book of Songs, Book of Odes, etc) is the earliest collection of Chinese poems and songs dating from the 10th to 7th century BC. Over half of the 305 poems are categorised as 'Airs of the States', thought to be ancient folk songs. These 'Airs' were shorter and simpler in their composition than the other eulogies and court hymns, but documented the views and everyday lives of the ordinary public. Needless to say love, longing, and courtship were inevitable subject matter for the common people. I'm going to try my hand at translating something more recent than the Classic of Poetry, but I hope I fully convey the depth and feeling of Chinese love poetry. 

炉中煤 A Burning Coal (1920)

郭沫若 by Guo Moruo

Ah, my young maiden! 

I will not disappoint your care, 

In turn you should not betray my attention. 

For the one I love, I will

Burn myself to nothing.

Ah, my young maiden!
You would know my story? 

You would not despise me, the crude black slave I am?

As deep in this black slave's bosom,

Is a heart that burns like fire.　 




Ah, my young maiden! 

I think on my past life, 

At first, I was a useful pillar,  

Later buried underground for many years,  

Until this morning, only now seeing sunlight again.　 

Ah, my young maiden! 

Since I saw the sun's rays again,

I often long for my hometown,

For the one I love, I will

Burn myself to nothing.

一课开花的树 A Tree in Blossom (1980)

席慕蓉 by Xi Murong

How do I make you meet me

At my most beautiful moment? For this

I went before the Buddha, and prayed for 500 years.

I begged him to let us bind as specks of dirt.
　 

But the Buddha turned me into a tree

To grow beside your road.

In the sunshine, carefully opening the blossoms,

Each one is a hope from my former life.
　 

When you walk by I plead that you listen;

My passion to wait for you trembles those leaves  

But when you finally, impassively walk past 

Behind you, falls a friend. (or 'you leave behind a friend')

That isn't a petal, it is my withered heart. 

情死 Love's Death 

徐志摩 by Xu Zhimo

Roses,  an overwhelming host of fragrant red roses, 

like last night's thunderstorm,

It must have been a signal you sent —— such fragile beauty.

Your colour is wine to my eyes, I want to draw nearer,

But I dare not. 

Youth! How many drops of white dew upon your forehead, bursting into colour at dawn.

The smile on your cheeks must be heaven-sent; how pitiful the world  

In its coarseness, unable to have the chance to bloom forever.  

To possess such beauty is your destiny,

I walk closer; your intoxicating colour and redolence subdues 

A soul! I am your captive.

Wherever you smile, I am there trembling,

You have already ascended the peak of life, gazing toward your friends,

A deep pool reflects the sky.  

You stand by the water's edge, and I stand behind you, 

I, your captive.

Here, I smile, while you there tremble. 

Such beauty is the fate of fate.

I clutch you in my hand; I love you, rose!

In colour, smell, form, spirit, beauty, charm —— 

All within my grasp. 

Here, I tremble, and you, you smile. 

Rose! I cannot cope with your passing, the dispersion of your perfume, for I love you! 

Petals, sepals, stamens, thorns, you, and I — 

How happy! 

Intertwined together! Slivers of scattered scarlet, two hands blurred with blood. 

Rose! I love you!