如梦令

李清照

昨夜雨疏风骤，浓睡不消残酒。
试问卷帘人，却道海棠依旧。
知否、知否？应是绿肥红瘦。

【Annotation】：

昨夜zuóyè: last night
雨yǔ: rain
疏shū:sparse
骤zhòu:sudden
海棠háitáng: Chinese flowering crabapple
依旧yījiù:as of old

Translation:

To the Tune of  Ru Meng Ling

Last night the rain was light, the wind fierce,

And deep sleep did not dispel the effects of wine.

When I ask the maid rolling up the curtains,

She answers, "The crab-apple blossoms look the same."

I cry, "can't you see? Can't you see?

The green leaves are fresh but the red flowers are fading!"
 
Introduction to the Poet

Li Qingzhao was born in A.D.1084 to an aristocratic family in Shandong province. Her father Li Gefei was a professor at the Imperial Academy in Kaifeng. As the daughter of an elite and educated family, Qingzhao received an unusually liberal upbringing for a woman. In 1101 she married Zhao Mingcheng, the scholarly son of the prominent politician Zhao Dingji.

Li Qingzhao's subsequent life was to be deeply affected by the politics of Song times. Her father was associated with Su Dongpo and the faction which opposed the reforms of Wang Anshi. Her father-in-law, on the other hand, was a political enemy of Su. In 1102 Qingzhao's father was exiled from the Song capital due to his affiliations. Amnesty was later offered to Li Gefei, however Zhao Dingji was dismissed from the office of prime minister in 1107 and died shortly after. Members of the Zhao family were persecuted, and the political aspirations of Qingzhao's husband Mingcheng were curtailed.