Deep, Deep in the Shade of the Court

Deep, deep in the shade of the court,
the oriole flutters and sings,
Sun warms, the mist warm, spring breaths heavily again.
Green eyes, the willow leaves now turn toward whom?
Across the distance, fragrant grass spreads out,
brooding, vacant, restlessly moving.

Wordless, she suffers, wounded that he'd go.
A shudder of love for him, and no way to show it.
She worries and worries, and finds her heart unchanged:
over and over when she sleeps
the butterfly's imprisoned in her dreams.

--Ou-yang Hsiu
Translated by J.P.Seaton