Nalan Xingde 納蘭性德

poet · guards officer · Qing China · 1655–1685

A young Manchu nobleman who served as a guards officer to the Qing emperor. He wrote lonely song lyrics until he died at thirty.

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c. 1680

If life could always be as it was when we first met, why would there be a painted fan to mourn, cast aside in the autumn wind?

人生若只如初見，何事秋風悲畫扇。

To the tune "Magnolia Flower": a song of breaking off, in the old style

1682 · In an army tent on the road beyond Shanhai Pass, following the emperor

A watch of wind, a watch of snow, a clamour that breaks my homesick heart and lets no dream form. At home there is no such sound.

風一更，雪一更，聒碎鄉心夢不成，故園無此聲。

To the tune "Endless Longing"