Sand-Washing Waves•sober Up Poem by East Sea Fairy Xing Yi

Sand-washing Waves•Sober up
By LIU-Yong（about984ad—about1053ad） Tr. East-Sea Fairy
The moment when I sobered up off the influence of alcohol in the cold night,
a breath of wind distressing and drear
through the window blew out the candlelight.
I was so clear-headed that I could hear the rain falling on the empty stair.
Lonely and forlorn, for ages I've engaged in roaming everywhere.
Unworthy of her love for I betrayed our bond and tie.
Thinking of the happy time with you, my Fair,
I, all of a sudden nigh,
feel that the intensifying irritating sorrow forces to me die.

Down-hearted and desolate at this instant,
all my cherished memories of you, my Fair, flood in my mind.
I remember that together in your apartment,
we sang, we danced, we dined and wined
and shared many times your perfumed quilt that is love-birds-designed.
Fail to notice I
that during the fleeting parting misery and melancholy have you confined,
for deep in love with you then, ourselves to each other we did ally,
and swore that the bond between us you would never untie.

However, now as a traveling executive
through the dull and drear days and the nights bleak and black,
away from you, away from my place native,
knowing not when I can go back
to be with you in your chamber again to have a good slack,
I' m long for sharing with you your pillows high
to chat and yak.
Night after night, with a river nearby,
I can only count the sands in the hourglass to make my memory of you revivify.