Orchid's Lament

I still remember that trace of affection we shared.

Your empire, my beauty;

Your smile, my sorrowful eyes;

Your resolve, my falling tears;

You had your three thousand beauties, while I had my hundred years of loneliness.

Who could ask, without resentment or hatred, as if enchanted, as if yearning?

Now, with white hair, stroking my beard, one person for a lifetime;

Looking back, through life and death, we pledged our love beneath heaven and earth;

In the end, it could not withstand the Xiang River flowing on, nor the years slipping away.

One lifetime, one era, one devoted couple;

One person, one lifetime, one longing.

Love brings parting, and what we seek remains out of reach;

A lifetime of bitter devotion, all for fate to begin and end, severed in this life.