Bai Juyi: A Pair Of Swallows On The Beam, What A Fine Husband-And-Wife Team 白居易 梁上有雙燕 翩翩雄與雌 Poem by Frank Yue

YAN SHI SHI LIU SOU
"Swallow Song to Show Liu the Elderly"
- by BAI JUYI (772-846)
- Translated by Frank C Yue

A pair of Swallows on the beam,
What a fine Husband-and-Wife team.
B'twixt beams, soil-saliva are mix'd,
To build a nest for their four chicks.
Yellow hatchlings grow day and night,
Always crying for more food flight.
Green worms are not easy to catch,
Babies' hunger is ne'er dispatch'd.
Though signs of stress beaks and claws show,
Fatigue the lov'ng parents don't know.
Even after a dozen flights,
Will the dear ones still need more bites?
After thirty laborious days,
Nestlings are plump, and Mom slim stays.
They're taught to speak and sing high notes;
Groomed are their fine feathery coats.

Once the young birds' wings become strong,
They're led up th' branches before long.
Off they fly -never looking back,
Dispersing in the wind, and tack.
The parents cry endless in th' wind!
But th' young birds are ne'er again seen.
Returning to their empty nest,
All night -sorrows swell up their breast.
Swallow, Swallow, grieve not like so,
Just remember your days of old:
When you were young you turn'd your back
To your parents and off you tack'd!
Your Mom and Dad were worried so -
Today, the same griefs you should know!

(2013.04.30)
parenthood
nature
life's journey
children


【燕詩示劉叟】 唐 • 白居易

梁上有雙燕翩翩雄與雌
銜泥兩椽間一巢生四兒
四兒日夜長索食聲孜孜
青蟲不易捕黃口無飽期
觜爪雖欲敝心力不知疲
須臾十來往猶恐巢中饑
辛勤三十日母瘦雛漸肥
喃喃教言語一一刷毛衣

一旦羽翼成引上庭樹枝
舉翅不回顧隨風四散飛
雌雄空中鳴聲盡呼不歸
卻入空巢裏啁啾終夜悲
燕燕爾勿悲爾當返自思
思爾為雛日高飛背母時
當時父母念今日爾應知