Spring Turtledoves
春 鸠
春 鸠 与 百 舌
音 响 讵 同 年？
如 何 一 时 语
俱 得 春 风 怜？
犹 知 造 物 意
当 春 不 生 蝉。
免 教 争 叫 噪
沸 渭 桃 花 前。
Chun Jiu
Chun jiu yu bai she
Yin xiang ju tong nian?
Ru he yi shi yu
Ju de chun feng lian?
You zhi zao wu yi
Dang chun bu sheng chan.
Mian jiao zheng jiao zao
Fei wei tao hua qing.
Spring Turtledoves
Spring turtledoves have a hundred singing voices
Do their songs echo differently every year?
Yet every season they arrive here together
Do they all need to sympathize with the spring breezes?
I realize now to expect them to have been created by divine beings
Thank these heavenly beings who match them with springtime, and not with the cicadas.
They have not been programmed to compete with the loud and clamorous chirping of others
Do not need this noisy commotion during peach blossoms.