On the day of Lu Yu's last sickness

陆游病到最后一天

a thin coffin was ready,

一口薄木棺材已经备好，

and two quilts to cover him,

两床被子将盖在他的身上

and the gravediggers paid

挖坟的人也收到了工钱

                                 their work done.

他们的活早已干完。

Then he started to write another poem

这时，他就着死前的一点功夫

a short time before death,

开始书写下一首诗

about drinking wine again in the village -

说的是再下村里喝酒——

He was working on the poem when they buried him,

下葬的时候，他还在潜心造句，

so that half a line protruded from the earth

所以有半句从土里伸出来

                                 in wind and weather's hearing -

在阴晴风雨中传开——

With sunlight touching the first young syllables,

当阳光打在第一个新词之上，

the last ones flowering from a dark coffin:

最后几个也在漆黑的棺材里盛开： 

                      "marketplace the in/drink more One"

“村场一醉千杯旱”

The first three words above ground

头三个字已经露出地面

the last ones wine in the Red Dust.

后几个还留在黄泉之下畅饮

Near the village of Shanyang

就在浙江省内

                                 in Chekiang Province…

山阳村后……