Learning Chinese Poetry in Songs

This is one of my favourite classic Chinese poems by Song dynasty's poet Su Shi titled Thinking of You (水調歌頭)..also sang by beloved Teresa Teng titled Wishing We Last Forever which was again made popular by lovely Faye Wong :) 

The wordings are old Chinese style which has very deep meaning compared to the more contemporary ones and i will always cherish to find out more of its meaning thus my love for old Chinese poetry. Learning Mandarin also is a favourite pastime and i'm hoping to slowly build my vocabulary and reading simple characters albeit the old traditional ones are still my first choice :)

Below are translations and explanations from wikipedia..

明月幾時有？ 把酒問青天。 不知天上宮闕5， 今夕是何年？	Bright moon, when did you appear? Lifting my wine, I question the dark night sky. Tonight in the palaces and halls of heaven what year is it, I wonder?
我欲乘風歸去， 唯恐瓊樓玉宇6， 高處不勝寒。 起舞弄清影7， 何似在人間8！	I would like to ride the wind, make my home there, Only I hide in a jade room of a beautiful mansion, As I could not bear the cold of high altitudes. So I rise and dance and play in your pure beams, this human world — how can it compare with yours?
轉朱閣9， 低綺戶10， 照無眠11。 不應有恨， 何事長向別時圓？	Circling red chambers, low in the curtained door, you shine on the sleepless. Surely you bear us no ill will — why then must you be so round at times when we humans are parted!
人有悲歡離合， 月有陰晴圓缺， 此事古難全。 但願人長久， 千里共嬋娟12。	People have their griefs and joys, their togetherness and separation, The moon has its dark and clear times, its waxings and wanings. Situations are never ideal since long ago. I only hope we two may have long long lives, So that we may share the moon's beauty even though we are a three hundred miles apart.

Shui diao ge tou (simplified Chinese: 水调歌头; traditional Chinese: 水調歌頭; pinyin: Shuǐ diào gē tóu) is the name of a traditional Chinese melody to which a poem in the cí style can be sung. Different poets have written different lyrics to the melody which are usually prefixed by the title "水調歌頭". The poem by Song dynasty poet Su Shi, also known as Su Dongpo, 水調歌頭·丙辰中秋 being the most famous. Cí(詞) is one of the literary genres that are unique to the Song dynasty, and can be sung to melody. Many ancient melodies are lost to history, but modern composers often compose new melodies for cí.

In 1983, Liang Hong Zhi (梁弘誌) set Su's poem to new music as the song "Wishing We Last Forever" (但願人長久). This new setting was recorded by Teresa Teng in her album Light Exquisite Feeling (淡淡幽情), which also contained songs based on other poems from the Tang and Song dynasties. Later artists such as Faye Wong, Jacky Cheung and China Flowers (芳華十八) covered this song in albums and concerts.

you can find more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuǐ_diào_gē_tóu