Over the West Pavilion Clouds of Ink Pass by
- Poetry of Su Shi

《江城子·墨云拖雨过西楼》

English Rendering

Over the west pavilion clouds of ink pass by,

Dragging heavy drops towards the sunset sky.

Yangtse River runs eastward in waves of white,

Taking with it the last breath of cloudy climes.

Along the banks willows bow to the golden light

That touch curtain hooks to shimmer and shine.--

All sweetly tuned for a lushy venue of delight, --

a blooming garden and freshly filtered wines.

My beauty has a smile like the starry night.

The silver moon hides away, now pale and shy.

Her singing is like gentle whispers of the night.

Her fair fan in hand soothes my moody mind.

To River South my peers in endless fight right:

Such fun in Yangzhou I wouldn’t change for thine.

Over the West Pavilion Clouds of Ink Pass by by Su Shi
Over the West Pavilion Clouds of Ink Pass by by Su Shi

Original Text (中文原文)

墨云拖雨过西楼。

水东流,晚烟收。

柳外残阳,回照动帘钩。

今夜巫山真个好,花未落,酒新篘。

美人微笑转星眸。

月华羞,捧金瓯。歌扇萦风,吹散一春愁。

试问江南诸伴侣,谁似我,醉扬州。

Analysis & Context

It’s a sentimental poem, a spur-of-the-moment yet well-structured with a yin-yang revolving pattern for a dynamic outcome built with words. Your imaginary eye would follow the poet from east to west, and back to east, then from the distant to the near, and settle to highlight the main role - the beauty, then to friends afar and back to me here. This could be quite impressive to many people but nothing unique in literature among the Chinese literati. It has been a habitual mindset like a code pattern set in the Chinese bloodline of ideology. And Su Shi was a master of the format.

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.