The empty town's dawn horn resounds,
Through willow-veiled paths it winds.
On horseback, thin-robed, I shiver cold,
Surveying tender yellows and greens unfold -
All old friends from Southland, every hue.
In this deep hush, Cold Food Festival's due.
I force wine to the little bridge's lair,
Fearing pear blooms' fall will bring autumn's air.
Swallows dart, asking spring's retreat -
Only the pond lies jade in silent feat.
空城晓角，吹入垂杨陌。
马上单衣寒恻恻，
看尽鹅黄嫩绿，都是江南旧相识。
正岑寂，明朝又寒食。
强携酒，小桥宅，
怕梨花落尽成秋色。
燕燕飞来，问春何在，
唯有池塘自碧。
Composed during the Chunxi era of the Southern Song Dynasty, this ci poem was written when Jiang Kui was lodging west of Chilan Bridge in Hefei's southern district. Though situated between the Yangtze and Huai rivers, Hefei was then near the northern frontier, its climate colder and scenery tinged with desolation. Against this backdrop of national fragility and personal career stagnation, Jiang Kui wandered from place to place, channeling his emotions into poetry. "Pale Yellow Willows" emerges as both a spring landscape sketch and a profound meditation on exile, longing, and national decline.
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