Two Lonely Isles in the Yangzi River - Written on a Picture Drawn by Li Sixun
- Poetry of Su Shi

《李思训画长江绝岛图》

English Rendering

Below the mountains green 

Water runs till unseen;

In the midst of the stream two lonely isles stand high.

Fallen crags bar the way;

Birds and apes cannot stay;

Only the giant trees tower into the sky.

From where comes a sail white?

In mid-stream rises oarsmen's undulating song.

Sand bar is flat,the wind is weak,no boat in sight,

The Lonely Isles sink and swim with the sail for long,

Like mist-veiled tresses of a pretty lass 

Using the river as her looking glass.

O merchant in the boat,don't go mad for the fair!

The Lonely Isle and Gallant Hill are a well-matched pair.

Two Lonely Isles in the Yangzi River - Written on a Picture Drawn by Li Sixun by Su Shi
Two Lonely Isles in the Yangzi River - Written on a Picture Drawn by Li Sixun by Su Shi

Original Text (中文原文)

山苍苍,水茫茫,大孤小孤江中央。

崖崩路绝猿鸟去⑶,惟有乔木搀天长。

客舟何处来,棹歌中流声抑扬。

沙平风软望不到,孤山久与船低昂。

峨峨两烟鬟,晓镜开新妆。

舟中贾客莫漫狂,小姑前年嫁彭郎。

Analysis & Context

The legend went that the God of Gallant Hill and the Goddess of the Lonely Isles were man and wife.

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.