方維儀（1585—1668），字仲賢，安徽桐城人（今桐城市區鳳儀里人）。明末著名女詩人、畫家，所作有《清芬閣集》， 又輯歷代婦女作品為《宮閨詩史》。其繪畫師法宋代李公麟，尤擅長繪釋道人物。特別是白描《觀音大士圖》形神兼備，許多人爭相收藏。

方維儀·《死別離》

昔聞生別離，不言死別離。

無論生與死，我獨身當之。

北風吹枯桑，日夜為我悲。

上視滄浪天，下無黃口兒。

人生不如死，父母泣相持。

黃鳥各東西，秋草亦參差。

予生何所為，死亦何所辭。

白日有如此，我心徒自知。

Parted by Death

Fang Weiyi

Since times of old we hear of separation;

Who has spoken of partings by death?

Yet whether it be by life or by death

I face it all alone.

The north wind buffets the barren mulberry,

It mourns for me night and day.

I lift my eyes to the broad azure sky

Below, no wide-mouthed babe.1

To live thus is worse than death,

Still, mother and father cling and weep.

Two orioles fly one east, one west,

The autumn grasses, too, are in disarray.

I live and what do I serve?

I die why should I refuse?

That under the white sun there can be such torment,

My heart knows well, in vain.

1. She raises her eyes to heaven in supplication, like the speaker of poem 65 in the Book of Odes. The expression huang kou er describes a fledgling chick or a baby. This couplet alludes grimly to the yuefu poem "Leaving from the Eastern Gate" ("Chu dongmen xing"), in which a wife pleads with her husband not to depart: "Other families only care for wealth and fortune, /Your humble wife would simply share the plainest gruel/For the sake of the bounty of blue heaven above/And our wide-mouthed babes below."

（Paula Varsano 譯）

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