With a wave, I depart from here.
How much more unbearable it is to part in such sorrow,
To relive our bitter feelings once again!
Anger seems etched in every glance and brow;
Hot tears well up, yet hesitate to fall.
Do you recall the words we exchanged before this parting?
Vast clouds and mists have swept past our eyes;
Among all the true friends in this world, it is you and I.
If one falls ill,
Does Heaven even know?
This morning, heavy frost covers the eastern gate road;
A waning moon hangs half in the sky above the pond,
Its melancholy profound indeed.
At the single blast of the steam whistle, my heart is already torn apart;
From now on, I shall be a lone traveler at the ends of the earth.
I beseech you to sever these threads of grief and resentment.
May my resolve be like Kunlun’s cliffs shattering into ruin,
Or like a typhoon sweeping across the entire universe.
Together again, wing to wing,
We shall cleave through the clouds.   [Notes] 1. In November 1923, shortly after Yang Kaihui gave birth to their second son, Anqing, Mao Zedong received a notice from the Central Committee instructing him to travel from Changsha via Shanghai to Guangzhou to attend the First National Congress of the Kuomintang.
This ci was composed upon his departure from Changsha and addressed to his wife, Yang Kaihui.
It was first published in the People’s Daily on September 9, 1978.  [Annotations] (1) “Hate”: the sorrow of separation; (2) “Ling”: to fall; (3) “Suan”: to count; (4) “Shuangzhong”: thick frost; (5) “Ruxu”: thus; (6) “Ping”: please; (7) “He yun jian”: to soar straight into the clouds.