Listen to this articleArtist: Teresa Teng (鄧麗君, テレサ・テン)
Song: 有谁知我此时情 (Yau seui ji ngo chi si ching)
有谁知我此时情
玉惨花愁出凤城
莲花楼下柳青青
尊前一唱阳关曲
别个人人第五程寻好梦 梦难成
有谁知我此时情
枕前泪共阶前雨
隔个窗儿滴到明寻好梦 梦难成
有谁知我此时情
枕前泪共阶前雨
隔个窗儿滴到明
Who can know of my feelings at this moment
Up to the capital sorrows painted a pretty face
Verdant willows below the Lotus Mansion
A farewell song sang for the dignitary *
Farewell to each on their fifth leg (of their journey)(When you) Chase a sweet dream it gets ever harder to fulfil
Who can know of my feelings at this moment
Tears on the pillow and rain on the steps
Divided by a window dripping till dawn(When you) Chase a sweet dream it gets ever harder to fulfil
Who can know of my feelings at this moment
Tears on the pillow and rain on the steps
Divided by a window dripping till dawn(When you) Chase a sweet dream it gets ever harder to fulfil
Who can know of my feelings at this moment
Tears on the pillow and rain on the steps
Divided by a window dripping till dawn*see comment, videos showed different version in subtitles, suggested singing in front of a bottle
Submitted by justanotherone
Author’s comments:
There is much more to this song than just another one about sadness of separation.
It is about having “unworthy” feelings for someone “above her status”, likely for someone she had not known for long that began as a transactional relationship. 尊前一唱阳关曲 (singing in front of dignitary) confirmed this.
In the video, curiously the dignitary 尊 somehow became a bottle/flask 樽, though I am fairly sure that the original text had 尊.
Contextually, bottle is plausible given that wine would have been consumed and even as an attempt to contrast the hidden sadness against what would have been an openly joyous atmosphere.
An intended double meaning is also entirely feasible with deliberately ambiguous choosing of the character, especially with her mastery of subtleties throughout the poem. Also, in Cantonese (the song here), these characters have sufficiently distinctive pronunciations, yet in original Mandarin (I presume) and modern Putonghua, they share identical pronunciation.
I am more inclined to side with dignitary (or a double meaning) which depicts the power dynamics of the unequal relationship also hinted at elsewhere in the poem, all of which makes her dream more hopelessly out of reach.
It is unspoken whether he was oblivious to her affection; I feel that it was very much one-sided and kept hidden from him. They could not have been together for long – he was on a stopover and was about to continue on the fifth leg of his journey (别个人人第五程).
It is also fairly overt that she dared not share her feelings with anyone (有谁知我此时情), again difference in status (lest being mocked for dreaming beyond her station. Pretty Woman and La Traviata spring to mind). Whilst I translated that as “Who can know of my feelings at this moment”, more literally, I am guessing that she did not want to say so directly that “I dare not share this moment’s feelings with anyone”. Given this, I am guessing that he was oblivious to her feelings or perhaps regarded that as part of the service.
The last verse also alluded to her impossible situation: she is tormented inside, yet she could never pursue happiness with this relationship or be open about her feelings (raining outside) for the division of their ranks/statuses (the window). Fulfilment, even an imagined one, seems hard to come by even in her dreams.
