Crossing the River
Qu Yuan
Distinctive dress and imagined flight
Choose how to appear before choosing where to go.
Sword, cap, pearls and jade express a lasting preference before dragons and Kunlun open a larger space.
A human recitation has not been added for this poem yet.
余幼好此奇服兮，年既老而不衰。
Since childhood I have loved this unusual dress; age has not weakened that love.
带长铗之陆离兮，冠切云之崔嵬，被明月兮佩宝璐。
A long sword hangs at my waist, my high cap cuts the clouds, and bright pearls and precious jade adorn me.
世混浊而莫余知兮，吾方高驰而不顾。
The world is muddy and nobody understands me; I will ride far away and look back no more.
驾青虬兮骖白螭，吾与重华游兮瑶之圃。
I drive blue dragons with white chí alongside, travelling with Chonghua in the garden of jade.
登昆仑兮食玉英，与天地兮同寿，与日月兮同光。
I climb Kunlun and eat jade's essence, wishing to live as long as heaven and earth and shine with sun and moon.
哀南夷之莫吾知兮，旦余济乎江湘。
I grieve that none in the southern lands understands me; at dawn I cross the great river and the Xiang.
The opening adornment declares a lasting identity whose consequences the later journey will test.