The qin melody Song of Four Laments survives only here and in 1611, which is identical.³ The lyrics are a set of four poems (or a poem of four verses) by Zhang Heng (78 - 139)⁴ called Four-Fold Sorrows (Si Chou Shi⁵). The poems were included in several ancient collections.⁶

The four laments are for four friends absent in the four directions. The poem gives no specific gender references but the context and traditional interpretations suggest the narrator is a man and the absent friends are women, perhaps lovers or former lovers. The narrator could be in the Eastern Han capital, Loyang. Loyang is in modern Henan province, and Zhang Heng was from Henan. The loved one to the east is at Mount Tai (Taishan, in Shandong province), with Liangfu mountain as a barrier. The one to the south is in Guilin, with the Xiang River as a barrier. The one to the west is in Hanyang (a Han commandery east of Lanzhou in modern Gansu⁷), with Longban (Longshan, a mountain range west of Chang'an) as a barrier. The one to the north is at Yanmen pass, at the west end of the Hengshan mountains in northern Shaanxi, with snow as a barrier.

Structurally each poem is 7 lines, with 7 characters per line (each verse of the song begins with an announcement of that verse, so that is not counted as a line). Only the final one to three characters of each line is changed between poems, except on each line 3, where in each verse the 4th and the last characters are changed. The song ends with a coda in harmonics that repeats the last line of the final verse.

 
Original Preface
None

 
Melody and Lyrics
A largely syllabic setting divided into four sections;⁸ the words in brackets are not in the original poem

1. （一思曰﹕                The first lament says,)
   我所思兮在泰山，   The one I lament is at Mount Tai;
   欲往從之梁父艱。   I would like to go there but Liangfu Mountain is hard to cross.
   側身東望涕沾翰。   As I turn to look east, tears wet my pen.
   美人贈我金錯刀，   My fair one has sent me a golden-inlaid dagger coin:
   何以報之英瓊瑤。   Is this recompensed by the beautiful jade (I sent)?
   路遠莫致倚逍遙，   It is too far to get there, so I just wander about.
   何為煩憂心煩勞？  Why should I be depressed and weary at heart?

2. （二思曰﹕                The second lament says,)
   我所思兮在桂林，   The one I lament is in Guilin;
   欲往從之湘水深。   I would like to go there but the Xiang River is deep.
   側身南望涕沾襟。   As I turn to look south, tears wet my collar.
   美人贈我金琅玕，   My fair one has sent me a red jade with gold inlay:⁹
   何以報之雙玉盤。   Is this recompensed by the pair of jade vessels (I sent)?
   路遠莫致倚惆悵，   It is too far to get there, so I remain reproachful.
   何為煩憂心煩怏？  Why should I be depressed and discontented?

3. （三思曰﹕                The third lament says,)
   我所思兮在漢陽，   The one I lament is in Hanyang,
   欲往從之隴阪長。   I would like to go there but the Long Mountains are broad.
   側身西望涕沾裳。   As I turn to look west, tears wet my lower garments.
   美人贈我貂襜褕，   My fair one has sent me short sable cloak:
   何以報之明月珠。   Is this recompensed by the bright round pearl (I sent)?
   路遠莫致倚踟躕，   It is too far to get there, so remain indecisive.
   何為煩憂心煩紆？  Why should I be depressed and fretful?

4. （四思曰﹕                The fourth lament says,)
   我所思兮在雁門，   The one I lament is at Yanmen Pass,
   欲往從之雪雰雰。   I would like to go there but the snow falls too heavily.
   側身北望涕沾巾。   As I turn to look north, tears wet my handkerchief.
   美人贈我錦繡段，   My fair one has sent me a swath of elegant brocade:
   何以報之清玉案。   Is this recompensed by the jade table (I sent)?
   路遠莫致倚增嘆，   It is too far to get there, so I just sigh more and more.
   何為煩憂心煩惋？  Why should I be depressed and disappointed?

   （尾聲，泛音               Coda, in harmonics)
   (何為煩憂心煩惋？   Why should I be depressed and disappointed?)

1. 四思歌 Si Si Ge: 4782.xxx (Return)

2. For more on 商調 shang mode see Shenpin Shang Yi and Modality in early Ming qin tablature. (Return)

3. Zha Guide 28/--/430 (QQJC VII/47 and VIII/55) (Return)

4. 張衡 Zhang Heng (78 - 139)
Bio/1251 and 10026.1420 張衡 have three or four people, but the relevant one is the earliest, a Han dynasty literatus 字平子，西鄂人 style name Pingzi, from Western E ("Xi Ao"?) in the 南陽 Nanyang region of modern Henan province. ICTCL, p. 211: although most famous as an early mathematician and astronomer (see online information), he was also an eminent author of fu (he and his 東京賦 Rhapsody on the Eastern Capital are mentioned tangentially in connection with Kai Gu). (Return)

5. 4782.647 四愁詩 Si Chou Shi says only "a poem by Zhang Heng". (Return)

6. For example, Wen Xuan, Folio 29 (Chinese edition, page 1303) and Yutai Xinyong. There is at least one complete published translation and two partial ones.

1. Four Sorrow, Four Poems, in Birrell, pp. 276-7.
   Begins, "The one I love lives on Mount Tai. I long to go after him, but Mount Liangfu is rugged."
2. Four Melancholies, in Allen p. 28 (1st verse only).
   Begins, "Oh, the one I long to be with is on Tai Mountain; I too would like to go along the Liangfu slopes."
3. Online: Four Chapters of Distressed Poems, a rhyming translation (1 1/2 verses)
   Begins, "In Taishan stays my dear sweetheart, but Liangfu keeps us long apart."

The title has also been translated Four Stanzas of Sorrow. (Return)

7. There are a number of places in China called Hanyang, best known being the city now a part of Wuhan in Hubei. The mountain in Sichuan of this name might be considered, but the reference that makes most geographical sense is the area around 天水 Tianshui in what is today southeastern Gansu province. During the Eastern Han dynasty this area was a commandery called Hanyang. Near here, in spring of 138 CE, there was an earthquake here so great that a seismograph in Loyang invented by Zhang Heng detected it. (Return)

8. A Hongkong website has the following glossary

Regarding 我所思 suo si at the beginning of each poem, as noted above, this can be translated in several ways ("the one I love", "the one I long to be with", "my lover". Note that the popular modern novel Smiling Pround Wanderer (笑傲江湖 Xiaoao Jianghu) by Louis Cha (Jin Yong) refers to a qin melody called 有所思 You Suo Si. I have found no further reference to this title.
(Return)

9. Some versions have 琴 qin instead of 金 gold, but this does not work as well structurally. (Return)

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