Du Fu - Ballad of the Fair Lady lyrics

A lady fair beyond compare In a desolate vale dwells hidden away She was of noble birth she says Reduced to living on gra** today The rebels when they took Chang'an Slaughtered her brothers one and all High offices availed them naught She got no corpse for a funeral All things are candles turned in wind This age hates all who wane or fade That shallow husband soon replaced her With a new mistress fair as jade The silk-tree's leaves know to curl for evening A mateless mandarin duck can't sleep But he saw only his new bride smiling How could he hear his old wife weep? Water —they say— runs pure in the mountains But fouled with mud from the mountains rolls Her servant returns from selling her pearls To pile live vines on their thatch roof's holes The cypress she plucks can't numb her hunger The flowers she picks won't grace her hair On the lean bamboo she slumps in sundown Her blue sleeves thin in the cold harsh air