I rise without joy, daub on some rouge,

And force myself to look in the mirror. My face is

still grey.

I’m gaunt from worry.

I’m desperately lonely. I cry a lot.

At my dressing table, my maid helps blacken my

eyebrows

And I suffer her to steam my braids.

Plum blossoms for my hair!

She really is an idiot.

—Zhu Shuzhen, trans. Adam Lanphier

I rise without joy, daub on some rouge,

And force myself to look in the mirror. My face is

still grey.

I’m gaunt from worry.

I’m desperately lonely. I cry a lot.

At my dressing table, my maid helps blacken my

eyebrows

And I suffer her to steam my braids.

Plum blossoms for my hair!

She really is an idiot.

—Zhu Shuzhen, trans. Adam Lanphier