The autumn festival comes slow;
The Weaving Maid’s heart full of woe.
The racing Dragon vies this day;
The bridging magpies vied the way.
Surprised, before the glass she’s shy;
Her silken robe she won’t untie.
But who can make the night longer last?
To weave with greater art next year as ’tis past.
粉席秋期缓，针楼别怨多。
奔龙争度日，飞鹊乱填河。
失喜先临镜，含羞未解罗。
谁能留夜色，来夕倍还梭。
This poem draws on the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid meeting on the Qixi Festival. On the seventh night of the seventh month, the two lovers separated by the Milky Way are reunited for a single night—a motif frequently used by classical poets to symbolize love, longing, and separation. Shen Quanqi, active in the early Tang court, was well-versed in the ornate tradition of occasional poetry but gradually infused it with genuine emotion. In this work, he uses the celestial lovers’ story, set against the Milky Way on Qixi, to express the yearning and sorrow of mortal women, while also reflecting his own lament on the impermanence of union and the fragility of deep affection.
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