Don't ask me why I write poetry
Please go to Miluo to find the key
Where Qu Yuan killed himself after thinking
I'll always remember his vanilla and beauty
Don't ask me why I write poetry
Please go to Pengze to find the answers
Where Tao Qian wrote the Peach Place
in my dreams I'll always chant his idylls
Don't ask me why I write poetry
Please go to Yellow River to find the replies
where China has got five thousand years history
There would be no motherland without their poe
Translator's notes:
1.Qu Yuan, born in 340 BC, is the first of the great romantic poet in China. He jumped into Miluo River to suicide after his political ideals shattered."vanilla", "beauty" are common words in his poems, are the symbols of himself.
2.Tao Qian, born in 365 AD, is the founder of chinese pastoral poetry.The Peach Place is his apocryphal "Utopia." He had been the head of Pengze County.Because he couldn't adapt the officialdom, he gave up the position of the head of county and higher pay, returned to his hometown to become a farmer,lived a poor and an ideal life.
3.The Yellow River, is a great river of China, is the birthplace of Chinese civilization.Its status in China, is similar to the Mississippi River in the United States, the Nile River in Egypt.
Don’t ask me why I write poetry
You can get reply from Miluo River
Where the poet Qu Yuan dead for his country
But engraved his spirit of poetry in my heart forever
Don’t ask me why I write poetry
You can find answer in the Pengze Lake
Where the poet Tao Qian left a lifestyle dream
There flowers and peace fascinated me day and night
Don’t ask me why I write poetry
Please listen to the Yellow River
It witnessed five thousand year history of China
There would be no Chinese culture without Chinese poetry
最后一节第二行有点短了，可加上母亲一词，母亲黄河，以及调整第三行为了韵脚。即改成：
Don't ask me why I write poetry
Please listen to the mother, Yellow River
It witnessed China's five thousand year history
There would be no Chinese culture without Chinese poetry
彭泽是个县，不是一个湖，在鄱阳湖边。为使译诗更有诗意，确实可以考虑不使用彭泽县，而意译为鄱阳湖。
一江之译，多有精彩之处，特别最后一句诗眼的翻译， 在poetry前面加上个原文所无的chinese非常精彩。但感觉尾句译成There would be no China without their chinese poems更好，原因：把their加上，能连贯全诗；使用chinese culture 虽然逻辑上更明白一些，但不如China更与原诗相符和内涵更多、更出人意料。
