葬花 [Zàng huā] [English translation]

Flower withers, its petals fly, fly all over the sky.

Faded beauty, lost fragrance, who will pity her?

Imbued with melancholy nowhere to lean on,

Carrying a hoe I go out through my embroidered curtain.

Blooming flower is easy to see, fallen one is hard to spot.

This worries the flower grave digger at porch stairs.

Alone I dig out the flower, secretly I shed my tears.

The tears splash onto bare twigs as they were bloodstains.

*Follow the flower flying to the end of the sky.

At the end of sky where is the grave her fragrance lies?

Better than a brocade bag that shrouds her petals fair,

Is a mound of pure earth to hide her love affairs.

*Today others laugh at my imbecility to bury flower.

Someday who would be the one who buries me?

One day when spring is gone, the days of beauty are over,

Flower falls, lovely maiden dies, (both are known no more.)

Repeat*,( )