Ci (poetry) - Example

Example

To the Tune of Riverside City - For ten years here I wander and there you lie

• 「十年生死兩茫茫。不思量，自難忘。千里孤墳，無處話淒涼。縱使相逢應不識，塵滿面、鬢如霜。 夜來幽夢忽還鄉。小軒窗，正梳妝。相顧無言，惟有淚千行。料得年年腸斷處：明月夜，短松岡。」“For ten years here I wander and there you lie./ I don't think about you often,/ yet how can I forget you!/ With your grave a thousand miles away,/ where can I confide my loneliness?/ Even if we met, could you recognize me,/ with dust all over my face/ and hair like frost?/ Last night I had a dream in which I returned home./ By the window,/ you were combing your hair./ We Looked at each other silently,/ with tears streaming down our cheeks./ There's a place which every year will be my misery：/ the moonlit night,/ the hill of short pines. 「Su Shi, 《江城子·十年生死兩茫茫》，蘇軾」

In the title of this ci, "the Tune of Riverside City" is the cipai, followed by the first sentence of the poem. Su Shi got married when he was 19, his wife 16. His wife died when she was only 27. Because of his government duties, Su Shi had moved to many different places in China, all far away from his hometown. One night in early 1075, about 10 years after her death, Su Shi dreamed of his wife, then composed this famous ci.