Impossible Vows
TranslationW. H. Auden · Anonymous Han Yuefu Classical Chinese → English
A call and response across time 跨越時空的唱和
As I Walked Out One Evening 某晚我走出門外
Chinese synopsis 中文梗概
黃昏的城市裡，一名行人偶然聽見戀人許下永恆的誓言；隨後，城市的鐘聲彷彿開口反駁，提醒人們青春、承諾乃至生命都受時間支配。等到人群散去、鐘聲沉寂，留下的是仍然向前的世界，以及明知生命有限卻仍須去愛的難題。
This paired reading uses a Chinese synopsis rather than reproducing or translating the copyrighted poem line by line.
本頁以中文梗概參與這組唱和，不逐行重印或翻譯仍受著作權保護的詩作。
Read the authorized English text at the Academy of American Poets 於美國詩人學會閱讀經授權的英文原詩
上邪 By Heaven!
Original 原文
上邪！
我欲與君相知，
長命無絕衰。
山無陵，
江水為竭，
冬雷震震，
夏雨雪，
天地合，
乃敢與君絕！
English translation 英譯
By Heaven!
I long for us to know each other,
through a long life, without parting or fading.
When mountains have lost their peaks,
when rivers have run dry,
when thunder rolls in winter,
when snow falls in summer,
when heaven and earth close into one—
only then would I dare
to part from you.