你是人间的四月天

nǐ shì rénjiān de sìyuè tiān
你是人间的四月天
 
yī jù ài de zàn sòng
-----  一句爱的赞颂
 
wǒ shuō nǐ shì rénjiān de sìyuè tiān
 我说 你 是 人间 的 四月 天；

xiàoxiǎng diǎnliàng le sìmiàn fēng qīnglíng
笑响点亮 了 四面 风；轻灵
 
zàichūn de guāngyàn zhōng jiāowǔ zhe biàn
在 春的 光艳 中 交舞 着 变。
 
nǐ shì sìyuè zǎotiān lǐ de yúnyān
你 是四月 早天 里 的 云烟，
 
huánghūn chuī zhe fēng de ruǎn xīngzi zài
黄昏吹 着 风 的 软，星子 在
 
wúyì zhōng shǎn ，xìyǔ diǎn sǎ zài huā qián
无意中 闪，细雨 点 洒 在 花 前。
 
nà qīng ，nà pīngtíng ，nǐ shì xiānyán
那 轻，那娉婷，你 是，鲜妍
 
bǎi huā de guànmiǎn nǐ dài zhe nǐ shì
百花的 冠冕 你 戴 着，你 是
 
tiānzhēn zhuāngyán nǐ shì yè yè de yuè yuán
天真，庄严，你是 夜夜 的 月 圆。
 
xuě huà hòu nà piàn éhuáng nǐ xiàng xīnxiān
雪 化后 那 片 鹅黄，你 像；新鲜
 
chū fàngyá de lǜ nǐ shì róunèn  xǐyuè
初 放芽的 绿，你 是；柔嫩 喜悦
 
shuǐguāng  fúdòng zhe nǐ mèng qīdài zhōng bái lián
水光浮动 着 你 梦 期待 中 白莲。
 
nǐ shì yī shù yī shù de huā kāi shì yàn
你 是一 树 一 树 的 花 开，是 燕
 
zài liángjiān nínán ——nǐ shìài shì nuǎn
在 梁间呢喃，——你 是 爱，是 暖，
 
shì xīwàng nǐ shì rénjiān de sìyuè tiān
是 希望，你是 人间 的 四月 天！

English translation:
You Are the April of This World
 
Ode to Love
 
I think you are the April of this world,
Sure, you are the April of this world.
Your laughter has lit up all the wind,
So gently mingling with the spring.
 
You are the clouds in early spring,
The dusk wind blows up and down.
And the stars blink now and then,
Fine rain drops down amid the flowers.
 
So gentle and graceful,
You are crowned with garlands.
So sublime and innocent,
You are a full moon over each evening.
 
The snow melts, with that light yellow,
You look like the first budding green.
You are the soft joy of white lotus
Rising up in your fancy dreamland.
 
You’re the blooming flowers over the trees,
You’re a swallow twittering between the beams;
Full of love, full of warm hope,
You are the spring of this world!
 （黄新渠 译 ）

Author's Intro

Lin Huiyin: 'Lady of Letters'

Lin Huiyin(林徽因 1904-1955), an outstanding female poet and architectural historian from the first half of the 20th century in China, was an erudite generalist who wrote about literature, arts, architecture and philosophy.

The favorite daughter of Mr. Lin Changmin, a high-rank governor in the Beiyang Government, 16-year-old Lin Huiyin traveled with her father around Europe and the United States in the 1920s.

In 1928, Lin got married in Canada to Mr. Liang Sicheng, son of China's famous politician and scholar, Liang Qichao. The couple had met while studying at Pennsylvania University in America.

On returning to China, Lin Huiyin started teaching architecture at Northeast University and then moved to Beijing's Qinghua University. She co-wrote the famous "Development Stages of Chinese Architecture" with her husband Liang Sicheng and another architect. She also contributed to the design for China's National Emblem and the Hero of the People's Monument in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Accompanying her husband to thousands of ancient Chinese architectural sites, most of which were in remote areas, she worked tirelessly to research China's architectural history. She and her husband lobbied hard to protect many of the old buildings in Beijing at a time when the municipal government was leveling many parts of the city for new construction.

Lin Huiyin's interests were very extensive and in addition to her work on architecture, she also wrote poems, essays, short stories and plays as well as translating works from English. She was well known in literary circles as hostess of one of the country's most famous literary salons in her home in Beijing's Zhongbu Hutong.

One of the more sensational parts of Lin Huiyin's life was her alleged affair with romantic poet Xu Zhimo and she remains best known nowadays as an extremely beautiful female poet of the 1930s. As a symbol of independent women of the time, Lin Huiyin and her western education and fluent English gave her a broader outlook on life than most women of the time. Despite suffering from phthisis towards the end of her life, she never abandoned her work.