「感逝寄远」白居易

昨日闻甲死，今朝闻乙死。知识三分中，二分化为鬼。

逝者不复见，悲哉长已矣。存者今如何，去我皆万里。

平生知心者，屈指能有几。通果澧凤州，眇然四君子。

相思俱老大，浮世如流水。应叹旧交游，凋零日如此。

何当一杯酒，开眼笑相视。

SEPARATION 

Yesterday I heard that such-a-one was gone; 

This morning- they tell me that so-and-so is dead. 

Of friends and acquaintances more than two-thirds 

Have suffered change and passed to the Land of Ghosts. 

Those that are gone I shall not see again; 

They, alas, are for ever finished and done. 

Those that are left,-— where are they now? 

They are all scattered, — a thousand miles away. 

Those I have known and loved through all my life, 

On the fingers of my hand — how many do I count? 

Only the prefects of T'ung, Kuo and Li 

And Feng Province — ^just those four.^ 

Longing for each other we are all grown gray ; 

Through the Fleeting World rolled like a wave in the stream. 

Alas that the feasts and frolics of old days 

Have withered and vanished, bringing us to this !

When shall we meet and drink a cup of wine 

And laughing gaze into each other's eyes? 

Note: Yüan Chen (ad. 831), Ts'ui Hsuan-liang'(ad. 833), Liu Yü-hsi (ad. 842), 

and Li Chien (ad. 821).