If by life you were deceived...

If by life you were deceived... - Alexander Pushkin

If by life you were deceived,
Don't be sad or mad at it!
On a gloomy day, submit:
Trust - fair day will come , why grieve you?

Heart lives in the future, so
What if gloom pervade the present?
All is fleeting, all will go;
What is gone will then be pleasant.

假如生活欺骗了你 - 普希金


假如生活欺骗了你，
不要忧郁，也不要愤慨！
不顺心时暂且克制自己，
相信吧，快乐之日就会到来。


我们的心儿憧憬着未来，
现今总是令人悲哀：
一切都是暂时的，转瞬即逝，
而那逝去的将变得可爱。

Александр Сергеевич Пушкин


Если жизнь тебя обманет,
Не печалься, не сердись!
В день уныния смирись:
День веселья, верь, настанет.


Сердце в будущем живет;
Настоящее уныло:
Все мгновенно, все пройдет;
Что пройдет, то будет мило.

I loved you - Pushkin

I loved you; and perhaps I love you still,
The flame, perhaps, is not extinguished; yet
It burns so quietly within my soul,
No longer should you feel distressed by it.
Silently and hopelessly I loved you,
At times too jealous and at times too shy.
God grant you find another who will love you
As tenderly and truthfully as I.


我曾经爱过你 - 普希金


爱情，也许
在我的心灵里还没有完全消亡，
但愿它不会再打扰你，
我也不想再使你难过悲伤。
我曾经默默无语、
毫无指望地爱过你，
我既忍受着羞怯，
又忍受着嫉妒的折磨，
我曾经那样真诚、
那样温柔地爱过你，
但愿上帝保佑你，
另一个人也会象我爱你一样。


Я вас любил...


Я вас любил: любовь еще, быть может
В душе моей угасла не совсем;
Но пусть она вас больше не тревожит;
Я не хочу печалить вас ничем.
Я вас любил безмолвно, безнадежно,
То робостью, то ревностью томим;
Я вас любил так искренно, так нежно,
Как дай вам бог любимой быть другим.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Part 1.1 (p4)
... the idea of eternal return implies a perspective from which things appear other than as we know them: they appear without the mitigating circumstance of their transitory nature. The mitigating circumstance prevents us from coming to a verdict. For how can we condemn something that is ephemeral, in transit?

... the profound moral perversity of a world that rests essentially on the nonexistence of return, for in this world everything is pardoned in advance and therefore everything cynically permitted.

Part 3.3 (p91)
But what is betrayal? Betrayal means breaking ranks. Betrayal means breaking ranks and going off in the unknown. Sabina knew of nothing more magnificent than going off into the unknown.

Part 3.4 (p98)
She had an overwhelming desire to tell him, like the most banal of women, Don't let me go, hold me tight, make me your plaything, your slave, be strong! But they were words she could not say.

The only thing she said when he released her from his embrace was, "You don't know how happy I am to be with you." That was the most her reserved nature allowed her to express.

Part 4.8 (p142)
What is flirtation? One might say that it is behavior leading another to believe that sexual intimacy is possible, while preventing that possibility from becoming a certainty. In other words, flirting is a promise of sexual intercourse without a guarantee.

Part 4.28 (p169)
But the fragile edifice of their love would certainly come tumbling down. For that edifice rested on the single column of her fidelity, and loves are like empires: when the idea they are founded on crumbles, they, too, fade away.

Part 5.23 (238)
He suddenly recall the famous myth from Plato's Symposium: People were hermaphrodites until God split them in two, and now all the halves wander the world over seeking one another. Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost.

dancing with my shadow

the name of my blog comes from a line in song ci (宋词) "shui diao ge tou (水调歌头 )" by su shi (苏轼). song ci is a from of classical chinese poetry from the song dynasty. they are actually lyrics, and with tunes, they can be sung. here's the english translation (found here) and the original chinese version of "shui diao ge tou". the translation is not bad, in my opinion.

Shui tiao ko tou
The moon -- how old is it?
I hold the cup and ask the clear blue sky
But I don‘t know, in palaces up there
When is tonight?
If only I could ride the wind and see --
But no, jade towers
So high up, might be too cold
For dancing with my shadow --
How could there, be like here?

Turning in the red chamber
Beneath the carved window
The brightness baffles sleep
But why complain?
The moon is always full at parting
A man knows grief and joy, separation and reunion
The moon, clouds and fair skies, waxing and waning --
And old story, this struggle for perfection!
Here‘s to long life
This loveliness we share even a thousand miles apart!
 
 水 调 歌 头
明 月几时有
把酒问青天
不知天上宫阙
今夕是何年
我欲乘风归去
又恐琼楼玉宇
高处不胜寒

起舞弄轻影

何似在人间

转朱阁
低绮户
照无眠
不应有恨
何事长向别时圆
人有悲欢离合
月有阴晴圆缺
此 事古难全
但愿人长久
千里共婵娟