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114 Cantonese Love Songs Once the soul is possessed and the heart intoxicated, the dream will be both of the sea of sin and the heaven of passion. Moreover, we love each other and try. to be together. How can you imagine our intoxicated dream would vanish so quickly? It is good for you to seek sweet dreams and in your dreams be perfectly united, Then by day and by night you will belong to an immortal family. With my head on my pillow, soul-dreaming, I become a wandering immortal [i.e. her soul can leave her body during dream-time]. See, his extravagant dreams so delude him that even though I call to him, he does not turn round. In their dreams the mandarin drake and duck are turned into a twin lotus flower; Never say that dreams are unsubstantial things, or that mortals may change! Can I believe that my spring-dream is but a fleeting cloud? Even though the realm of dreams is the realm of pleasure, I warn you not to be too attached to it. Ah, the dreams of flowers are easily shattered. Waking from my dream today I find my lover is far apart from me; What I most regret is that fate joined us together for only the brief moment of a dream. Song 39 It Is Hard for the Moon to Keep Its Roundness Flowers fall easily, but the moon with difficulty waxes round. Flowers and the moon have deep passion resulting in enmity; In themselves, both flowers and the moon are passionless, but man ever goes on being attached to them. What I most regret is that flowers and the moon alike age men so quickly, and stir up men's pity. If flowers have passion, they sadly gaze at the moon. a moon! You make such efforts to become round; tell me how can I not feel sad and grieved? 114 Cantonese Love Songs Once the soul is possessed and the heart intoxicated, the dream will be both of the sea of sin and the heaven of passion. Moreover, we love each other and try. to be together. How can you imagine our intoxicated dream would vanish so quickly? It is good for you to seek sweet dreams and in your dreams be perfectly united, Then by day and by night you will belong to an immortal family. With my head on my pillow, soul-dreaming, I become a wandering immortal [i.e. her soul can leave her body during dream-time]. See, his extravagant dreams so delude him that even though I call to him, he does not turn round. In their dreams the mandarin drake and duck are turned into a twin lotus flower; Never say that dreams are unsubstantial things, or that mortals may change! Can I believe that my spring-dream is but a fleeting cloud? Even though the realm of dreams is the realm of pleasure, I warn you not to be too attached to it. Ah, the dreams of flowers are easily shattered. Waking from my dream today I find my lover is far apart from me; What I most regret is that fate joined us together for only the brief moment of a dream. Song 39 It Is Hard for the Moon to Keep Its Roundness Flowers fall easily, but the moon with difficulty waxes round. Flowers and the moon have deep passion resulting in enmity; In themselves, both flowers and the moon are passionless, but man ever goes on being attached to them. What I most regret is that flowers and the moon alike age men so quickly, and stir up men's pity. If flowers have passion, they sadly gaze at the moon. a moon! You make such efforts to become round; tell me how can I not feel sad and grieved? The Songs 115 If the moon knew how to have compassion on fragrance [i.e. courtesans] why does it allow us to fade? If the moon shines for a long time on you, then even if the flower fades, still your heart will not be troubled. There are twelve months in a year. Only twelve times are you fully round. And although flowers bloom in all four seasons, they blossom for but a brief spell. Since our fate is as frail as a flower, it is hard for us to look you [i.e. the moon] in the face; If when I am in full bloom I look...

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