有誰知我此時情
鷓鴣天 聶勝瓊
玉慘花愁出鳳城
蓮花樓下柳青青
樽前一唱陽關曲
別箇人人第五程
尋好夢，夢難成
有誰知我此時情
枕前淚共階前雨
隔個窗兒滴到明
Who can know my feeling
My jade has lost its sheen, the flowers are sad
when you left Phoenix City
Green are the willows beneath the lotus terrace
Before we drink a farewell toast let us sing
the Sunlight in the Mountain Pass
And we’ll ride together till the fifth outpost.
Finding good dreams is difficult
Who can know my feeling now?
Tears on my pillow, raindrops on the stairs
Outside my window dripping till daybreak.
Teresa Teng 鄧麗君 in her music video, explains that the love poem was written by a courtesan to a high official of the Song Court, when the official was leaving the capital. The love note was found by the wife who was so affected by the words that she invited the courtesan to be part of the family.
Such is the power of poetry that it can change our behaviour and transform the way we regard events and people, and even our rival in love!
Here, let me confess that before I watched the music video (see the screen capture of Teresa Teng above), I thought the narrator was a man thinking of his lost love. To realise that this exquisite sentiment was from a woman deepens the ache in the heart when reading it.
Note: 有誰知我此時情 Who can know my feeling is sung by Teresa Teng, available from her album 淡淡幽情專辑 (1983).
