Getting up at Night While in a Boat
- Poetry of Su Shi

《舟中夜起》

English Rendering

I take for rain the breeze which rustles through the reed,

Opening the hatch,I find a lake full of moonbeams.

Boatmen and waterbirds share alike the same dreams;

Like scurrying foxes,startled fish away speed.

Man and nature forget each other when night is deep,

Playing alone with my shadow amuses me.

The setting moon like spider hangs from willow tree;

Dark tides creeping over the flats for earthworms weep.

Our life laden with care and spent in worry fleets,

A pure vision before the eyes cannot last long.

Flocks of birds scatter at ringing bells and cock's song,

You'll hear from the prow but boatmen's shout and drumbeats.

Getting up at Night While in a Boat by Su Shi
Getting up at Night While in a Boat by Su Shi

Original Text (中文原文)

微风萧萧1吹菰蒲,开门看雨月满湖。

舟人水鸟两同梦,大鱼惊窜如奔狐。

夜深人物不相管, 我独形影相嬉娱。

暗潮生渚吊寒蚓,落月挂柳看悬蛛。

此生忽忽忧患里, 清境过眼能须臾。

鸡鸣钟动百鸟散,船头击鼓还相呼。

Analysis & Context

Written when the poet was en route to a new post as magistrate of Huzhou in Zhejiang north of Hangzhou.

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.