Excerpts from the original text:
But when she turned to look down at the earth and tried to see the capital, there was only fog and dust. He expressed his love for the old man and sent him back a shell box and gold hairpin through his special envoy.
However, one branch of the hairpin and one side of the box were kept, and the gold of the hairpin and the shell of the box were broken. "Our souls belong to each other," she said, "just like this gold and this shell." Somewhere, at some time, on earth or in heaven, we will be together.
She sent him a message through his messenger, reminding him that only the hearts of the two of them knew the oath. On the seventh day of July, in the Palace of Eternal Life, we secretly told each other in the quiet midnight world.
We hope to fly in heaven, two birds become one, grow on the earth, two branches of a tree ... the earth lasts forever, and the sky lasts forever; One day both will end, and this endless sadness will last forever.
Translation:
Looking back on the world, Chang 'an has disappeared, leaving only dust and fog. I can only express my affection with the keepsake of that year. You can take that box of gold hairpin to the king as a souvenir.
One for the gold hairpin, half for the cymbal box, gold for the gold hairpin, and precious cymbals for the cymbal box. I hope our loving hearts are as firm and unyielding as Huang Jinbao's, and we will have a chance to meet again forever.
When I left, I kindly asked the alchemist to take a message to the king, saying that only the king and I knew the oath. When the Palace of Eternal Life was empty in the middle of the night on the seventh day of July, we made a pledge of eternal love.
In heaven, I would like to be a bird flying with me. On earth, I would like to grow branches together. Even if it lasts forever, there will always be an end, but this life-and-death feud will never end.
Extended data
Creative background:
In the first year of Yuanhe (806), Bai Juyi was appointed as county commandant (now Xi zhouzhi county). One day, my friends Chen Hong and Wang Zhifu and I visited Xianyou Temple near Ant, and talked about Li Longji and Yang Guifei. Wang Zhifu believes that something as outstanding as this will disappear with the passage of time if it is not polished. So Bai Juyi wrote this long poem.
Ideological theme:
The whole poem vividly describes the love tragedy between Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty and Yang Guifei. The poet created touching stories with historical figures and legends, and reproduced the truth of real life through artistic images.
About the author:
Bai Juyi (772-846) was born in Xinzheng, Henan, and his ancestral home was Taiyuan, Shanxi. He was a great realistic poet in the Tang Dynasty and one of the three great poets in the Tang Dynasty. Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen * * * advocated the new Yuefu movement, and together with Liu Yuxi, they called the world "Bai Yuan" and "Bai Liu".
Bai Juyi's poems have a wide range of themes, various forms and simple and popular language, and are known as "the poet's magic" and "the king of poets". Official to Hanlin bachelor, Zuo Zanshan doctor. In 846 AD, Bai Juyi died in Luoyang and was buried in Xiangshan. Up to now, there are Bai's "Changqing Collection", and the representative works include Song of Eternal Sorrow, Charcoal Man, Pipa Travel and so on.