After the Fresh Blossoms Have Gone (Picking Mulberries)
- Poetry of Ouyang Xiu

《采桑子·群芳过后西湖好》

English Rendering

After the fresh blossoms have gone- West Lake is good.

Tattered scraps of remnant red,

Mist of cotton catkins flying,

Weeping willow by the railing in the wind and sun.


Pipes and song scatter and cease, visitors depart.

I start to feel that spring is empty,

Let the curtain fall back down,

A pair of swallows going home through the drizzly rain.

After the Fresh Blossoms Have Gone (Picking Mulberries) by Ouyang Xiu
After the Fresh Blossoms Have Gone (Picking Mulberries) by Ouyang Xiu

Original Text (中文原文)

群芳过后西湖好,狼籍残红。

飞絮濛濛。垂柳阑干尽日风。

笙歌散尽游人去,始觉春空。

垂下帘栊。双燕归来细雨中。

Analysis & Context

The poet describes the pleasure of boating and drinking on the West Lake in the first two poems and the quieiude of lonely spring in the third.

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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