曉霧長亭 · Morning Mist at the Long Pavilion

Day nineteen. Theme: farewell journeys (round 4).

The long pavilion stands at the edge of the city road, one li out, then five li, then ten. In classical China these 長亭 were where friends stopped, turned back, and released each other into the world. This song belongs to the one who remains — who watches the figure on horseback dissolve, step by step, into the morning mist, until there is only white and the sound of hooves, and then only white.

Pipa opens alone in its low register, its plucked notes like dew dropping from the pavilion eaves before a word is spoken. Erhu enters in the verse, carrying the interior ache beneath the surface quiet. The chorus swells when the figure is already gone and there is nothing to do but stand in the mist with the morning wind in one's robe. By the outro, the mist has thinned, the road is empty, and the grass is the same green it was before the wine was poured.

引子 曉霧未散，長亭簷滴， 一盞殘燈，寒氣侵衣。 征袍已整，馬蹄輕踏石， 此去萬里，幾時再相依。

主歌一 露草未乾，蛛網銀絲垂， 道旁楊柳，葉葉帶離思。 酒溫尚在，杯中映天色， 一飲未盡，已無語相辭。

副歌 霧中人影，漸遠漸無聲， 馬蹄聲碎，散入白茫茫。 長亭佇立，衣袂帶曉風， 回首已是霧，霧中無歸程。

主歌二 古道轉折，松影已西斜， 寒鴉一聲，啼破晨色霞。 當時折柳，折不斷離愁， 霧深路遠，何處問君家。

副歌 霧中人影，漸遠漸無聲， 馬蹄聲碎，散入白茫茫。 長亭佇立，衣袂帶曉風， 回首已是霧，霧中無歸程。

尾聲 霧散無跡，只餘長亭立， 簷滴如故，草色猶青青。 他日若問，長亭送君處， 唯有曉霧，年年漫行路。