A Chinese Poem

At my Christmas Party 2015, my cousin told a story of 祝枝山, one of the 四大才子 in Chinese history:

某員㚈得一扇子請祝題詩 扇面是幅這樣的畫

堤岸上楊柳青々柳梢頭小鳥數隻一位少婦倚著柳樹凝望江心似傷心欲絕

江水悠々有葉小舟己揚帆而去船頭書生正在揮手道別

祝枝山索銀子三百兩員㚈只肯出一半

祝即在扇上題下：

東邊一棵楊柳樹

南邊一棵楊柳樹

西邊一棵楊㧕樹

北邊一棵楊柳樹

員㚈看了怎麼題了這麼多楊柳樹呢

祝答道 銀子只給一半詩當然只題一半

員㚈無奈只得䃼齊銀子

祝才再題：

東邊一棵楊柳樹

南邊一棵楊柳樹

西邊一棵楊㧕樹

北邊一棵楊柳樹

仼憑他南北西東千絲萬縷

繋不住郎舟住

這邊喚鹧鴣

那邊啼杜鵑

一聲々行不得也哥々

一聲々不如歸去

員㚈讀畢欣喜萬分連々讃賞值得值得

Here is my attempt to translate for those guests who do not speak or understand Chinese:

A man commissioned a poet to compose a poem on his silk fan. On the fan was depicted a young woman leaning against the trunk of a willow tree, her eyes gazed sadly toward the middle of the river. A young scholar in a small boat was waving goodbye. A couple of birds were perched among the branches. The poet charged $300, the man was only willing to pay $150. The poet wrote:

Weeping willow on the east

Weeping willow on the west

Weeping willow on the north

Weeping willow on the south

"What is this? All these willows." The man was irritated.

You paid half of the price, you get half of the poem. The poet answered.

The man shelled out another $150 reluctantly. The poet continued.

Weeping willow on the east

Weeping willow on the west

Weeping willow on the north

Weeping willow on the south

East, west, north, south; thousands of strands of love

Cannot hold back my lover

Robin cries, "don't go, please, don't go"

Lark weeps, "got to, dear, got to"

The man was delighted. "Worthy, worthy!" he exclaimed.