English Rendering
How many tears
Criss-cross your cheeks and run across your face!
Don't try to speak when worry makes you weep,
Nor play the flute when it will bring your tears,
Or surely then your heart will break.
How Many Tears (Gazing at the South)
- Poetry of Li Yu
《望江南(其二)》Original Text (中文原文)
多少泪，断脸复横颐。
心事莫将和泪说，凤笙休向泪时吹，肠断更无疑。
Analysis & Context
By Li Yu
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.
- The Wind Returns; My Little Courtyard is Green and Overgrown (The Beautiful Lady Yu)
- The East Wind Blows Over the Water (The Lover's Return)
- My Idle Dreams Roam Far (Gazing at the South)
- Last Night the Wind and Rain Together Blew (Crows Crying at Night)
- How Many Tears (Gazing at the South)
- Beneath the Moon, Before the Steps (Gratitude for New Bounties)
- The Summit Temple
- <Prelude to Water Melody> Sent to Ziyou on Mid-autumn Festival
- Invitation to Wine
- Question and Answer in the Mountains
- Cold sheet
- Coming Home ( Returning Home )
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