五言古诗
王维
西施咏
艳色天下重, 西施宁久微?
朝为越溪女, 暮作吴宫妃。
贱日岂殊众? 贵来方悟稀。
邀人傅脂粉, 不自著罗衣,
君宠益娇态, 君怜无是非。
当时浣纱伴, 莫得同车归。
持谢邻家子, 效颦安可希?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Five-character-quatrain
Wang Wei
THE BEAUTIFUL XI SHI
Since beauty is honoured all over the Empire,
How could Xi Shi remain humbly at home? ——
Washing clothes at dawn by a southern lake ——
And that evening a great lady in a palace of the north:
Lowly one day, no different from the others,
The next day exalted, everyone praising her.
No more would her own hands powder her face
Or arrange on her shoulders a silken robe.
And the more the King loved her, the lovelier she looked,
Blinding him away from wisdom.
……Girls who had once washed silk beside her
Were kept at a distance from her chariot.
And none of the girls in her neighbours' houses
By pursing their brows could copy her beauty.