A thing which fades
With no outward sign
Is the flower
Of the heart of man
In this world!
(Tr. Arthur Waley)
***
That which fades away
Without revealing its altered color
Is, in the world of love,
That single flower which blossoms
In the fickle heart of man.
(Tr. Earl Miner)
***
Find mutability
In that being which alters without fading
In its outward hue --
In the color, looks, and the deceptive flower
Of the heart of what this world calls man!
(Tr. Brower & Miner)
***
They change,
though you don't see it
in the color of their faces --
these blossoms that are the hearts
of the people of this world.
(Tr. Burton Watson)
***
Without changing color
in the emptiness
of this world of ours,
the heart of man
fades like a flower.
(Tr. Rexroth & Atsumi)
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This time (for a change) Miner's version has to yield to Waley's passionate translation.
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