Thinking of Ancient Times at Ganlu
- Poetry of Xu Zaisi

《人月圆·甘露怀古》

English Rendering

Towers and halls

Of the old temple by the river.

Autumn colors slip into the water.

Green grass by the ruined wall,

Fallen leaves by the empty portico.

Green moss by the half-hidden stairs.

The stranger goes south

As the sun dips westward,

The river toward the east.

Magnolia blossoms stay

As the monks question,

“For whom?”

Thinking of Ancient Times at Ganlu by Xu Zaisi
Thinking of Ancient Times at Ganlu by Xu Zaisi

Original Text (中文原文)

江皋楼观前朝寺,秋色入秦淮。

败垣芳草,空廊落叶,深砌苍苔。

远人南去,夕阳西下,江水东来。

木兰花在,山僧试问,知为谁开?

Analysis & Context

By Xu Zaisi

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.