Revisiting the Dream of the Peony Pavilion
Kunqu Opera Translations
Already the flowers bloom profusely
However, against the dilapidating well and fences
Such beautiful scenery cannot withstand time
Joyous encounters have no place in our garden
Clouds spread in the morning, beads of rain fall at dusk
Resplendent glow drift into bamboo windows
Silk threads of rain and gusts of wind
Painted boats on the misty ripples
Springtime wastes away for someone who passes her days behind silk screens!
Azaleas red as blood spill all over the verdant hills
Beyond the blackberry roses, willows sway as if intoxicated
The peony is fair indeed
But springtime passes soon
I gaze deeply
The swallows’ chatter is clear as scissors cut
Listen, the orioles’ song is mellow and full
Springtime this year stirs my heart more than ever
Its radiance cannot be withheld by these undulating walls
My heart brimming with love suspends, floats, diffuses
This sleepy blackberry rose entangling with my dress
Is comparable to my heart clinging to its beloved
Over there are the pond and rockery
Here is the peony pavilion
Peony shoots are framed in the balustrade
Locks of willow
Tresses of elmpods
are threaded together by spring
and dangle like gold coins
I couldn’t have deceived myself
Vaguely I still imagine his face
The encounter was brief
And his departure unwilling
He can’t be far yet
Our affair was just a instant ago
Perhaps he will appear again by these blossoms and willow
Yesterday and today
In my eyes and heart
This garden turned into a matrimonial bed
(This aria is about the plum tree by which Du Liniang met the scholar in her dream)
Its fragrance is pure and extends far
Its canopy is full and even
Thanks to this season of blossoms and abundant rain
The leaves are lush
The mellow fruits hold bitter kernels
How I love the shade it casts
In which I revisit my fleeting dream
In a fortuitous moment
My heart was tied to another
By this plum tree
If our love was as free as the love for flowers
If to live or to die became our own choice
There would be no heartache and laments
Until my soul melts into the plum tree’s roots
In the season of perennial rain
Alas my beloved
I will reside here
Until we meet again