胡天遊《蘋果花》“Apple blossoms” by Hu Tianyou (1696-1758)

已憐佳果憶蘋婆，

更柰穠芳照眼何。

艷綴明霞千萼小，

香籠紺雪一春多。

微涼庭院清于水，

淡粉容華淺映羅。

細簇輕攢上花髻，

正宜嬌伴遠山蛾。

Fond indeed is the memory of the apple’s lovely fruit,

Yet what of its lavish blossoms, dazzling the eye?

Tiny, the thousands of calyxes that adorn bright rosy clouds with radiance;

Abundant, the spring with magenta snow enveloped in fragrance.

In the faint cool, the courtyard is fresher than water;

In light rouge, the lustre of [their] faces shimmers softly [like] silk-gauze.

Gently gather a tender cluster to fashion a flowered chignon:

A fair match for brows [arched like] distant mountains.

* From Hu Tianyou 胡天遊, Shisi shanfang shiji 石笥山房詩集 (1854 reprint digitalised by the Harvard-Yenching Library),  8.8a.