Once I Followed the East Wind

[Intro]

[Verse 1]

That year the east wind came early

I let down ten thousand strands of green silk

Spring's colors take up residence in Leyou Garden

Crowds fill the embankment

I lend my shadow to the song

And drape her shoulders in green

[Pre-Chorus]

No one ever reminded me

The seasons would quietly change their faces

[Chorus]

曾逐东风拂舞筵 — Once I followed the east wind, brushing past the dancers' banquet

Drunk with joy I roam the days of the third month

如何肯到秋光晚 (How could it bear to wait until autumn's light grows late)

已带斜阳又带蝉 — Already bearing the slanting sun and the cicadas too

The old green fades into a pale haze

The wind still remembers my youth

[Verse 2]

The flowers bloom so recklessly

So beautiful it makes the heart ache

Someone breaks off a sprig of spring

Tuck it into the departing traveler's saddle

I thought spring would last a long time

Enough for me to spend all this greenness freely

[Pre-Chorus]

The cicadas' chorus swells thicker with every wave

The slanting sun stretches the branch shadows into deep curves

[Chorus]

曾逐东风拂舞筵 — Once I followed the east wind, brushing past the dancers' banquet

Drunk with joy I roam the days of the third month

如何肯到秋光晚 (How could it bear to wait until autumn's light grows late)

已带斜阳又带蝉 — Already bearing the slanting sun and the cicadas too

The old green fades into a pale haze

The wind still remembers my youth

[Instrumental]

[Verse 3]

Now it is the west wind blowing through

Blowing old garments down all over the ground

The dancing feast is over, the people have gone

Only cicadas remain to take the place of pipes and strings

I still recognize every dance step

Only I cannot lift the past

[Bridge]

如何肯到清秋日 — How could it bear to linger until the clear days of autumn

I ask until the setting sun’s eyes turn red

The answer spring owes me

The cicadas have called it out for me countless times

Even if I could begin again

I would still turn green beneath a heartbreaking sky

At least the cicadas' song remembers me

The setting sun shares half its lingering warmth with me too

[Verse 4]

Autumn has done nothing wrong

The east wind has told no lies either

I have merely come from spring

I have walked into autumn's presence

When the east wind returns next year

The fresh green will say goodbye for me

[Final Chorus]

曾逐东风拂舞筵 — Once I followed the east wind, brushing past the dancers' banquet

Drunk with joy I roam the days of the third month

如何肯到秋光晚 (How could it bear to wait until autumn's light grows late)

已带斜阳又带蝉 — Already bearing the slanting sun and the cicadas too

The old green fades into a pale haze

The wind still remembers my youth

[Outro]

The slanting sunlight dims inch by inch

The last cicada call, lingers by my ear