Farewell to Cambridge Again ｜再别康桥

Softly I slip away, as softly I arrived;

With a tender wave, I bid the western clouds farewell.

The riverside’s golden willows, like brides adorned in sunset’s glow,

Their shimmering reflections dance upon the water’s face,

Rippling softly through the chambers of my heart.

The lush weeds upon the yielding mud,

Sway with grace beneath the liquid veil;

In the Cam’s gentle embrace,

I am but a humble waterweed, content to drift.

Beneath the elm’s sheltering shade, the pool lies still—

Not of mere spring, but of sky-born rainbow;

Crushed among the floating algae,

It settles into a dream, a spectrum of longing.

To seek a dream? I guide my oar through the stream,

Toward fields of green, ever greener, ever beyond;

My boat brims with starlight’s glow,

And in its shimmer, I sing—though not aloud.

For silence is the hymn of parting,

Even the summer’s chorus hushes for me,

Silence is Cambridge tonight.

Softly I slip away, just as softly I came;

I lift my sleeve, a fleeting gesture,

And leave without a single cloud in hand.