TUNE: AMPLIFIED SONG OF GATHERING MULBERRIES

添字采桑子

THE BANANA

芭蕉

Who’s planted before my window the banana trees,

窗前谁种芭蕉树？

Whose shadows in the courtyard please?

阴满中庭。

Their shadows in the courtyard please,

阴满中庭，

For all the leaves are outspread from the heart

叶叶心心，

As if unwilling to be kept apart.

舒卷有余情。

Heart-broken on my pillow, I hear midnight rain

伤心枕上三更雨，

Drizzling now and again.

点滴霖霪。

Drizzling now and again,

点滴霖霪，

It saddens a Northern woman who sighs.

愁损北人，

What can she do, unused to it, but rise?

不惯起来听。