Hidden Fragrance: Moonlight of Bygone Days
- Poetry of Jiang Kui

《暗香 · 旧时月色》

English Rendering

That old moonlight - how many times

Did it watch me by plum blossoms, playing chimes?

Calling the jade maiden, undeterred by cold,

To pluck the blooms with fingers bold.


Now like He Xun, aged and worn,

I've lost my spring-breeze verse, forlorn.

Yet wonder why beyond bamboo, sparse flowers

Send cold fragrance to my jade bowers.


Riverlands so still, so deep,

Snow starts to pile where longings creep.

Jade cups brim with easy tears,

Red buds brood on silent years.


I always remember where we stood,

A thousand trees weighed West Lake's chill flood.

Now petals scatter one by one -

When shall we meet under the sun?

Hidden Fragrance: Moonlight of Bygone Days by Jiang Kui
Hidden Fragrance: Moonlight of Bygone Days by Jiang Kui

Original Text (中文原文)

旧时月色,算几番照我,梅边吹笛?

唤起玉人,不管清寒与攀摘。

何逊而今渐老,都忘却春风词笔。

但怪得竹外疏花,香冷入瑶席。


江国,正寂寂,叹寄与路遥,夜雪初积。

翠尊易泣,红萼无言耿相忆。

长记曾携手处,千树压、西湖寒碧。

又片片、吹尽也,几时见得?

Analysis & Context

Composed in the winter of 1191 during Emperor Guangzong's reign, this ci poem was written by Jiang Kui after his snow-laden visit to Fan Chengda at Stone Lake, where he stayed for over a month. Along with "Sparse Shadows," it forms the celebrated "Twin Odes to Plum Blossoms." Using the plum as its central image, "Fragrant Shadows" embodies the poet's nostalgia for departed friends and his lost homeland, while also revealing his personal sorrow over a rootless existence and the relentless passage of time.

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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