The Lantern Festival

Today is the Chinese Lantern Festival. This is an English 

translation of the poem referred to in the post, Meaning in Language. 

The Lantern Festival
--A Lyric Verse by Xin Qiji (1140-1207)

Lanterns look like thousands of flowers aglow;
Later like stars, from the skies, fallen below.
On main streets, horses and carriages ply.
There, ladies shed perfume, as they pass by.
Orchestral music and song greet our ears,
As the moon, slow and steady, eastward veers.
Of the Spring Festival, this night marks the end.
The whole night, capering, carps and dragons spend.
Adorned with ribbons or paper flowers on their head,
Clad in their best raiment, something bright or red,
Women squeeze their way among the festive crowd,
As they talk and laugh; even giggle aloud.
Rouged and powdered; perfumed to their heart's content,
They cannot but leave behind a subtle scent.
＝＝＝＝
Up and down the main streets, I must have run—
A thousand times or more in quest of one, 
Who I have concluded, cannot be found;
For, everywhere, no trace of her can be seen,
When, all of a sudden, I turned about,
That's her, where lanterns are few and far between.

Hundreds and thousands of times, 

For her I searched in chaos, suddenly, 

I turned by chance, to where the lights were waning, 

And there she stood！