Yesterday the fallen flowers danced in front of wind and attracted the rain
at sunset. At dawn, my yard was half covered with scattered petals. Only the
tall willow branches remained to wave gently in the sunny sky. We have stood
hand-in-hand lovingly beneath blossoms and have drunk deeply. "You need not
frown. I am also full of affection. However, it is time to store the wine cups
and go our separate ways."
1
At the end of the Qin dynasty, Yu Xiang and Bang Liu competed for the
emperorship. While Xiang was besieged by Liu's troops, he drank at his camp and
sang to his beautiful mistress, "Yu, Yu, What can I do?" Yu responded with a
song. The royal music school used this story to compose a melody called "Yu, the
Beautiful Woman".
After a rain, Meng-de Ye set wine beneath the apple blossoms for his friends,
Gan-yu and Cai-qing. There were beautiful women accompanying them. Under such a
circumstance, Ye wrote the above poem.