A beauty and the beast pairing
Dirty ditty and real emotion yoked awkwardly together by Du Mu
A Gift on Parting (1) Du Mu Nearly thirteen, and pink as the cardamom’s March bloom, Willowy, fresh, and light. Let the spring breeze peek through every curtain in Yangzhou, It will not find her like. A Gift on Parting (2) Du Mu Too much emotion looks the same as no emotion. It just means we cannot smile when we raise a glass. The candle has a heart, and mourns our separation, It weeps until the dawn on our behalf.
The first of these poems is a somewhat pornographic ode to a young woman’s beauty (girl’s, by modern reckoning).
The second is a real parting poem with a lovely visual metaphor of a weeping candle. These two pieces seem to have little business being placed together, and I wonder if it is not a scribal error of some kind.
杜牧 赠别二首
其一
娉娉袅袅十三余，豆蔻梢头二月初。
春风十里扬州路，卷上珠帘总不如。
其二
多情却似总无情，唯觉樽前笑不成。
蜡烛有心还惜别，替人垂泪到天明。
