English Rendering
A cool-matted silvery bed; but no dreams....
An evening sky as green as water, shadowed with tender clouds;
But far off over the southern rivers the calling of a wildgoose,
And here a twelve-story building, lonely under the moon.
She Sighs on Her Jade Lute
- Poetry of Wen Tingyun
《瑶瑟怨》
Original Text (中文原文)
冰簟银床梦不成，碧天如水夜云轻。
雁声远过潇湘去，十二楼中月自明。
Analysis & Context
Seven-character-quatrain
This poem comes from the renowned late Tang poet Wen Tingyun, celebrated for his graceful lyric poetry. "Lament of the Jade Zither" stands as a quintessential example of his boudoir-plaint poetry. Through delicate depictions of autumn nightscapes and distant geese calls, the poem portrays a sleepless woman yearning for her absent beloved, her emotions adrift without anchor. With exquisite diction and lingering emotional resonance, it represents a masterpiece of late Tang romantic poetry.
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.
- Early Departure at Shang Mountain
- From the River
- Dreaming of the South
- By the river
- The morning glow shone on the painting screen
- I laid on the glass pillow
- 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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