Li Qingzhao: Two fragments from her lost works -散轶句两则

一．（上赵挺之）

原作：李清照

英译：闵晓红

炙手可热心可寒，

何况人间父子情？

1. ( A letter to my dear father-in-law)

… …

A man in the hot seat can be stone cold at his heart;

Let alone the kinship between a father and his son.

Appreciation:

This comes from her poem to her father-in-law Zhao Tingzhi in her father’s defence during a time when the old party and the new party are fighting like dogs and cats right now. Ironically, as a member of the new party got promoted by one of her relative Qin Hui the Prime Minister, Zhao Tingzhi was the man who made the decision on her father’s banishment. Her father, together with many others following Su Dongpo, were been heavily punished and banished far away from the political stage. Qin Hui proved to be a traitor in all history books.

二．

窗外芭蕉窗里人，

分明叶上心头滴。

2.

The raindrops are falling on banana trees, obviously;

but have turned into teardrops in my heart, hideously.

Reference:

1. 李清照文集 作者：（北宋）李清照著，刘振鹏https://books.google.com.au/
2 《李清照集笺注》李清照撰，徐培均笺注； 2002年上海古籍出版社