The Partridge Sky-A Dream on the Night of Lanter Festival

Poetry of Jiang Kui 《鹧鸪天·元夕有所梦》

English Rendering

The long River Fei to the east keeps on flowing;

The love-seeds we once sowed forever keep growing.

Your face I saw in dreams was not clear to my eyes 

As in your portrait,soon I'm woke up by birds'cries.


Spring not yet green,

My gray hair seen,

Our separation has been too long to grieve the heart.

Who makes the past reappear 

Before us from year to year

On Lantern Festival when we are far apart?

The Partridge Sky-A Dream on the Night of Lanter Festival by Jiang Kui -
"The Partridge Sky-A Dream on the Night of Lanter Festival" by Jiang Kui

Original Text (中文原文)

肥水东流无尽期,当初不合种相思。

梦中未比丹青见,暗里忽惊山鸟啼。

春未绿,鬓先丝,人间别久不成悲。

谁教岁岁红莲夜,两处沉吟各自知。

Meaning & Analysis

This is a love lyric written on the 15th day of the first lunar month in 1197.The over-forty-year-old poet dreamed of his beloved from whom he had been separated for more than twenty years.

Related Themes

Reader's Companion

The Essence of the Verse

Classical Chinese poetry thrives on Concision and Ambiguity. Without tense or number, the words create a timeless space where the reader becomes the co-creator of the poem's meaning.

Reading Between the Lines

Look for Contrasts: light and shadow, movement and stillness. Don't just translate the words; feel the Yijing (artistic conception) that lingers long after the last character.

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