相看淚眼 [Xiāng kàn lèi yǎn] [English translation]

A miserable cicada is trilling in the cold,

Over the wayside pavilion’s darkening form

Emerging form the wash of a sudden storm.

In a tavern by a city gate

Gloomy over a cup,

I hesitate,

While the departing boat is calling,

Hand in hand, we are lingering

In each other’s tearful eyes,

At a loss for words, even for sobs and sighs.

Ahead, a misty expanse of waves lies

Beneath the pressing evening haze

Spanned by the vast Southern Skies.

A sentimental soul at farewell

Is always stricken by dismay.

How can he stand the travel

On such a bleak autumn day!

—Where will I find myself, soon

After the night drunkenness is gone?

With a setting moon,

Chilled in the breeze of dawn,

On the banks weeping willows, forlorn.

Any happy moments there may be,

In years of loneliness, of sorrow,

Are not moments meant for me;

Even though

Thousands of tender feelings there

Might in me overflow,

With whom could I share?