Su Shi: Dream Recall Poem by Yiyan Han

― Love was when loved each other
Translated by Yiyan Han ©

Ten years since thou passed away,
in my memory thou forever stay,
though avoiding thinking of thee.
The worlds of life'n'death separate us.
As thy lonely tomb is thousand miles away,
to whom could I express my grief and misery?
Wouldn't recognise each other even if we met,
with our dusty faces, and hairs turned
grey from black.

I dreamt of back to our home town, saw thee sit
facing the small window and dressing up.
We were staring at each other without words,
only with tears gushing out from our eyes.
Imagine thou would be bitterly weeping
and longing for me, year after year,
in a moonlit night, on the deserted ridge
of pine shrubs.

Footnote:
SU Shi (蘇軾,1037 - 1101) , a great poet in Song Dynasty, wrote this poem in 1075 to commemorate his beloved wife who died 10 years earlier. I translate this great piece into English in an attempt to show that love is eternal. A great poem lives forever ever. The subtitle is added by me.