Forever Joy Variations

Original by Li Qingzhao
Translated, from the Chinese, by Chengru He

Chengru He 何琤茹’s writing, translation, and multi-media works appear or are forthcoming in Ancient Exchange, Defunct, Colorado Review, Gulf Coast, Poet Lore, Speculative Nonfiction, Tint Journal, Unlikely Stories, Watershed Review, and elsewhere. She has published Chinese translations of Agatha Christie’s Come, Tell Me, How You Live and Diana Wynne Jones’ Howl’s Moving Castle. A former ESL teacher in Shanghai, she is currently a PhD student in Poetry at the University of Utah.

Li Qingzhao 李清照 (1084 – ca. 1155) was a Song dynasty female poet and is considered one of the greatest poets in Chinese history. Her Ci (词) poems are especially popular.

Translator’s Note:
“Forever Joy Variations” is part of a book-length project of classical Chinese poetry translation variations. The translation variations try to rethink the idea of accessibility in multilingual cultures and how to present Chinese classical poetry to contemporary multilingual readers and readers with multilingual experiences.