English Rendering
No fire is made in empty room on rainy days;
I hear alone the riverside orioles' lays.
Drinking, I gaze on flowers and miss my brothers dear;
On Cold Food Day homeland grass grows green and drear.
For My Brothers in the Capital on Cold Food Day
- Poetry of Wei Yingwu
《寒食寄京师诸弟》Original Text (中文原文)
雨中禁火空斋冷，江上流莺独坐听。
把酒看花想诸弟，杜陵寒食草青青。
Analysis & Context
This poem was written in the second or third year of Emperor Dezong's Zhenyuan reign, while Wei Yingwu was serving as the governor of Jiangzhou. It was the Cold Food Festival, and the poet, far from home, was overwhelmed with feelings of loneliness. His homesickness became especially intense during this holiday, prompting him to write this seven-character quatrain filled with fraternal and hometown emotions.
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.
- Farewell in the Evening Rain to Li Cao
- Greeting on the Huai River to My Old Friends from Liangchuan by
- An Autumn Night Message to Qiu
- For Kinsfolk and Friends at Guangling
- For My Brothers in the Capital on Cold Food Day
- On Hearing Homing Wild Geese
- The Summit Temple
- <Prelude to Water Melody> Sent to Ziyou on Mid-autumn Festival
- Invitation to Wine
- Question and Answer in the Mountains
- Cold sheet
- Coming Home ( Returning Home )
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