A Windowful of Thousand-Year Snow

[Intro]

[Verse 1]

I open the window in the morning

Two golden orioles, the first to greet me

They stand upon the willow branches

Call after call, so clear and sweet

The willow branches have just begun to bud

Tender green, tender green, dazzlingly fresh

[Pre-Chorus]

两个黄鹂鸣翠柳 — Two golden orioles sing amid green willows

A line of white egrets, cutting through clouds and mist

[Chorus]

一行白鹭上青天 — A line of white egrets rises into the blue sky

门泊东吴万里船 — At the gate lie boats from Eastern Wu, ten thousand miles away

The snowy ridges framed by the window have been white for thousands of years

Two orioles, sing until the willow tips tremble

Spring is right here，before this window of mine

One glance outside, and the whole human world is there

[Verse 2]

This window of mine is a picture frame

Framing the Western Ridge, its snowy peaks stretching on and on

Snow has gathered for a thousand autumns, ten thousand generations

White for a thousand years, its face unchanged

The window is just a little square

Yet it held, so vast a realm

[Pre-Chorus]

The river outside the door has risen

A sail lies moored, bound for who knows how far

[Chorus]

一行白鹭上青天 — A line of white egrets rises into the blue sky

门泊东吴万里船 — At the gate lie boats from Eastern Wu, ten thousand miles away

The snowy ridges framed by the window have been white for thousands of years

Two orioles, sing until the willow tips tremble

Spring is right here，before this window of mine

One glance outside, and the whole human world is there

[Instrumental]

[Verse 3]

How long is a thousand autumns

The snow says even it cannot remember it all

How far is ten thousand miles

The boat says, keep traveling, and the answer will come

A thousand autumns meet ten thousand miles

All tucked into, one tiny window frame

[Bridge]

Someone asks me why

I keep gazing at the boats in a trance, forgetting mealtimes

I wonder on what day

I too might board a boat, and follow the current home to the Central Plains

The orioles are still calling

Their calls make the heart, tingle with warmth

The egrets are still flying

Flying into a line，of poetry beyond words

[Verse 4]

The setting sun sinks behind the western ridge

The snowy ridges take on, an edge of gold and red

The boats all rest at the docks

Held aloft by the mast, the first star gleams

Before I close the window

Look at this painting, one more time

[Final Chorus]

一行白鹭上青天 — A line of white egrets rises into the blue sky

门泊东吴万里船 — At the gate lie boats from Eastern Wu, ten thousand miles away

The snowy ridges framed by the window have been white for thousands of years

Two orioles, sing until the willow tips tremble

Spring is right here，before this window of mine

One glance outside, and the whole human world is there

[Outro]

门泊东吴万里船 — At the gate lie boats from Eastern Wu, ten thousand miles away

Tonight in dreams, I will dream of the southern riverbank too