Song of Longing for My Love (Translation)

Song of Longing for My Love (思美人曲)

by Jeong Cheol*

I was born to follow him
Our lifelong bond was known to Heaven
I was young and sole belovéd
This heart, this love had no compare.

My only wish to be for life
By his side; yet in old age
I am alone, and miss him sore
Last night, it seems, I was with him
Upon the Palace of the Moon
Wherefore returned to mortal lands?
This hair, once combed, a three-year tangle
I've rouge and powder, but for whom?
My heart is piled on high with cares
My breaths are sighs; my sight is tears
Life has limit; sorrow, none.

Uncaring years, you flow like water
Passing, coming, like the seasons
I look, I listen; thoughts overwhelm.

Sudden spring breeze blows the snow
Apricots outside my window
Faithful flow'rs on frosty boughs,
A subtle scent on spring's awakening!
Moon chases sunset on my pillow
A sob or greeting. Is't you, my love?
If I sent those blossomed branches
Flowering in this pale cold,
Will he then know my steadfast heart?
Will he return me to his side?

Flowers fall and leaves do sprout
Shades are cool 'neath summer trees
Silk hangings droop in solitude 
Broidered tents stand empty, silent
Roses have I drawn aside
And peacocks strut on painted screens
How long the day amidst my woes!
Upon the silk that I have cut
Are swans in their domestic bliss
Rainbow threads do I unwind
To sew a robe for my beloved
The measurements on golden rule
Skill and courtesy in the making
On frame of coral do I set
The box of jade that holds his robe
I look to send it where he be
A frightening way through cloud and mount
A thousand miles, ten thousand miles
Would he greet my gift as he would me?

Wild geese honk in frosty night
In tower high past crystal blinds
I spy the moon and Northern Star;
Is it he? The tears well up
Fain would I take that radiance clear
And send it winging to his palace
May he lift it high above
Light valleys deep as bright as day!

Earth and sky lie white and still
No sign of man or even bird
With cold so deep in southern lands
What of his palace in the north?
Springtime sun I'd conjure up
To shine upon him where he is
A warmth upon my humble home
Would I gift his courtly dwelling
In skirt of red, blue sleeves half rolled
The day is gone; my thoughts are many
Through the winding winter night
With inlaid harp next to my light
I lean, and hope to dream of him
Cold my marriage bed--is't day?

Through hours of day and days in a moon
I try to spare myself the pain
By stopping up my thoughts of him
'Tis in my heart, though, to the bone
Doctors ten from legend all
Could not cure me of this longing
Ah, this sickness, all his doing
A butterfly I'd rather be
Flit from flowering branch to branch
And alight on him 'pon scented wing
He may not know me, yet will I follow.

* Jeong Cheol (1536-1593): Politician, academic, author, and poet in the Joseon era of Korea. He wrote Song of Longing while exiled from court due to partisan strife. Keep in mind this doesn't make him a good guy; he was one of the most enthusiastic and cruelest partisans out there, and Song of Longing is arguably one of the most famous examples of literary sycophancy in Korean history.

( source text and translation notes )