University of Virginia Library

五言古詩 王維 西施詠

艷色天下重, 西施寧久微?
朝為越溪女, 暮作吳宮妃。
賤日豈殊眾? 貴來方悟稀。
邀人傅脂粉, 不自著羅衣,
君寵益嬌態, 君憐無是非。
當時浣紗伴, 莫得同車歸。
持謝鄰家子, 效顰安可希?

Five-character-quatrain
Wang Wei THE BEAUTIFUL XI SHI

Since beauty is honoured all over the Empire,
How could Xi Shi remain humbly at home? --
Washing clothes at dawn by a southern lake --
And that evening a great lady in a palace of the north:
Lowly one day, no different from the others,
The next day exalted, everyone praising her.
No more would her own hands powder her face
Or arrange on her shoulders a silken robe.
And the more the King loved her, the lovelier she looked,
Blinding him away from wisdom.
...Girls who had once washed silk beside her
Were kept at a distance from her chariot.
And none of the girls in her neighbours' houses
By pursing their brows could copy her beauty.