Friday, April 27, 2018

Three poems to The One Part Tune


There are three poems in SB 11 set to a tune called The One Part Tune (一半兒調). These short poems describe their subject and conclude with a line summarizing its attractive qualities as made of “one part this and one part that.”


[春] tuwabun    Spring Scene
Staatsbibliothek 11.69 (View Online)
niyengniyeri fiyan hojo ya,    The colors of spring are pretty, oh,
tuwabun sabugan ba ba,    everywhere the scenes and the sights,
cecikei wei ilhai wa,    the calls of birds and the scent of flowers.
amtangga,    What is appealing:
5dulin donji dulin tuwa.    It’s one part “listen” and one part “look”!



toro ilha [桃花]    Peach Blossoms
Staatsbibliothek 11.70 (View Online)
toro ilha hon fiyangga,    Peach blossoms, so colorful,
saikan gege-i cira,    the face of a beautiful lady,
fiyan fiyen hojo de wangga,    a perfume on the beauty of rouge.
soningga,    The novelty is:
5 dulin boco dulin wa.    It’s one part color, one part fragrance!



gefehe [蝴蝶]    Butterfly
Staatsbibliothek 11.71 (View Online)
urhu haihū gefehe,    Staggering butterfly,
goiman dedenggi yangse,    charming, frivolous form,
ilha baime šodoro,    galloping off after flowers.
hon yobo,    What is so amusing:
5 dulin gakda dulin juwe.    It’s one part single, one part double.


Translation Notes:

cecikei wei. I infer the meaning of “calls” for wei based on the last line of the poem, but I don’t find this term in my dictionaries.

fiyan fiyen. This pair also came up in Flowers. The word fiyan means “color” and fiyen means “powder.” Together I think these must refer to makeup or rouge.

dulin gakda dulin juwe. I suppose this means that the butterfly is, in one sense a single creature, but with its two broad wings also a double creature.

2 comments:

  1. I think you are right about "cecike wei", there is a line p. 1093-1094 of the SB manuscript that points into this direction: "šan de mudan wei akū."

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  2. Well spotted! I don't find any other similar examples in SB or Jakdan.

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