先生，见字如面。 我这一生，所求甚多。求樽中酒满，求良夜尽欢，求琼燕去复返，求一轮皓月，照的故人不散。 可是先生，信笺纸短情长，我的片语春风，吹不到你的北岸，相思也止步万重山。 如今，再逢冬夜里，琴萧寒。 我自知这天高地远，不可攀。也不愿让你如此为难。 最后所求，不过一句“人间苦漫，望君平安”
Sir,
May these words reach you as if we met face to face.
In this lifetime, I have wished for many things:
A cup ever full of wine,
Nights filled with unrestrained joy,
Departed swallows returning to my eaves,
And a bright moon that might keep old friends from parting.
But, Sir,
Paper is short and feelings are long.
The breeze of my few spring-like words
Cannot cross to your northern shore,
And longing halts before the mountains deep.
Now, once more in a winter night,
The flute and zither sing of cold.
I know well — the sky is high, the earth vast —
You are beyond my reach.
Nor would I have you suffer for my sake.
In the end, all I ask
Is this:
‘The world is bitter and long — may you be safe and well.’