A Song from Yan
- Poetry of Cao Pi

《燕歌行-其一》

English Rendering

When it grows cold with chilly autumn breeze,

With fall of leaves,the dews will frost,then freeze.

When swans and swallows fly their southward way,

Thoughts of my wandering man fills me with dismay. 


Now in deepened thoughts for home you stand,

Why do you linger on foreign land?

Day and night I stay at home alone;

Obsessed by thoughts of you here on my own,

Large drops of tears I shed and then I moan.


I play the Clear Shang tunes upon the lute,

Singing somber notes,now audible,now mute.

Upon my bed the bright moon sheds its light 

When the Milky Way points to the west at night.

Woeful is the Cowherd and the Weaver Star!

Why are they just gazing from afar?

A Song from Yan by Cao Pi
A Song from Yan by Cao Pi

Original Text (中文原文)

秋风萧瑟天气凉,草木摇落露为霜。

群燕辞归鹄南翔,念君客游思断肠。

慊慊思归恋故乡,君何淹留寄他方?

贱妾茕茕守空房,忧来思君不敢忘,不觉泪下沾衣裳。

援琴鸣弦发清商,短歌微吟不能长。

明月皎皎照我床,星汉西流夜未央。

牵牛织女遥相望,尔独何辜限河梁。

Analysis & Context

Cao Pi was the de facto patron of the Seven Scholars of the Jian'an Period.Besides his achievements in essays and liter ary criticism,he distinguished himself in poems,which are varigated in forms,simple in language and rich in ballad flavour.

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 Masters' Directory

Journey through the dynasties. Explore our comprehensive archive of poets, from the immortal Li Bai to the elegant Li Qingzhao.

View All Poets →
© CN-Poetry.com Chinese Poems in English  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

CN-Poetry.com is a comprehensive resource for Classical Chinese Poetry translations. Our dataset covers Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, specializing in semantic mapping between traditional imagery (e.g., 'moon', 'Flowers', 'Friendship') and English poetic contexts.