Dream of the Red Chamber Hong lou meng 曹雪芹 Cao Xueqin 红豆词 Hong dou ci Red bean song / Red bean ci poem: song, lyrics, pinyin, English translation, ci poem genre introduction, and info about the poet.

Zither 古筝 gu3 zheng1 -music only

曹雪芹
Cao2 Xue3 Qin 2
红豆词
Hong2 dou4 ci2
Red bean song / Red bean ci poem

滴不尽相思血泪抛红豆。
Di1 bu2 jin4 xiang1 si1 xue3 lei4 pao1 hong2 dou4
Dripping endlessly the blood and tears of missing and longing like throwing out the red beans.

开不完春柳春花满画楼。
Kai1 bu4 wan2 chun1 liu3 chun1 hua1 man3 hua4 lou2
Blooming ceaselessly the spring willow and the spring flowers filled the painting-like storied building.

睡不稳纱窗风雨黄昏后。
Shui4 bu4 wen3 sha1 chuang1 feng1 yu3 huang2 hun1 hou4
After the sunset, the unstable sleep was caused by the wind and rains outside of the screen windows

忘不了新愁与旧愁。
Wang4 bu4 liao3 xin1 chou2 yu3 jiu4 chou2
Couldn’t forget the new worries and the old sorrow.

咽不下玉粒金波噎满喉。
Yan4 bu2 xia4 yu4 li4 jin1 po1 yi4 man3 hou2
Couldn’t swallow down the jade like grains and the gold like liquid, and was choked all over the throat.

照不见菱花镜里形容瘦。
Zhao4 bu2 jian4 ling2 hua1 jing4 li3 xing2 rong2 shou4
Couldn’t see reflection of the thinness of the appearance in the trapa natan shape mirror.

展不开的眉头。
Zhan3 bu4 kai1 mei2 tou2
Couldn’t stretch out the eyebrows.

捱不明的更漏。
Ai1 bu4 ming2 de5 geng1 lou4
Suffered through hours marked by the unclear water clock.

呀。
ya2
Ah

恰便似遮不住的青山隐隐。
qia4 bian3 si4 zhe1 bu2 zhu4 de5 qing1 shan1 yin3 yin3
Just like the unconcealed indistinct blue mountain,

流不断的绿水悠悠！
Liu2 bu2 duan4 de5 lu4 shui3 you1 you1
Endlessly flowing unhurried green water.

Translated by Shu

For the symbol of red bean / love bean, please see my another post:
Chinese to learn: Red beans symbol in Chinese culture — love beans — Faye Wong 王菲 Wang2 Fei1, Red bean 红豆 hong2 dou4: song, lyrics, pinyin, English translation, information about Faye Wong and Mameshiba 6 – Red Bean [with English annotations]
http://www.chinesetolearn.com/?p=1245

The genre of the poem: Ci poem
Ci (词) is a kind of lyric Chinese poetry. For speakers of English, the word “ci” is pronounced somewhat like “tsuh”. It is also known as Changduanju (长短句 “lines of irregular lengths”) and Shiyu (诗馀 “that which is beside poetry”).

Typically the number of characters in each line and the arrangement of tones were determined by one of around 800 set patterns, each associated with a particular title, called cípái 词牌. Originally they were written to be sung to a tune of that title, with set rhythm, rhyme, and tempo. Therefore, the title may have nothing to do with its contents, and it is common for several ci to appear to have the same title. Some ci would have a “subtitle” (or a commentary, sometimes as long as a paragraph) indicating the contents. Sometimes, for the sake of clarity, a ci is listed under its title plus its first line.

Ci most often express feelings of desire, often in an adopted persona, but the greatest exponents of the form (such as Li Houzhu and Su Shi) used it to address a wide range of topics.
See the full article about ci poem, see:http://history.cultural-china.com/en/61History8494.html

For more info about Ci and some other Ci poems with English translation see:http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Poetry/songci.html

Poet 曹雪芹 Cao2 Xue3 Qin 2 info:
Cao Xueqin was a Qing 清 Dynasty Chinese writer, best known as the author of Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. This ci poem comes from Chapter 28 of Dream of the Red Chamber.

A TV Dream of Red Chamber song version.