"Leisure" they say—yet leisure never stays,
Secret cares haunt my mind in countless ways.
I rise, cloak-draped, hearing snow's nightly song,
Watch moonlit flakes before the dawn's new throng.
Plum boughs seem lonelier in this frozen air,
My hair—like reed-thatch—bares solitude's despair.
Snowflakes know not the sorrows humans keep,
In wind they frolic, swirling in playful heap.
道得闲来尽未闲，颇缘幽事搅心间。
卧听雪作披衣起，不待天明带月看。
更觉梅枝殊摘索，只惊蓬鬓却羁单。
飞花岂解知人意，风里时时戏作团。
Composed during Yang Wanli's late years, this lyric exemplifies Southern Song literati's snow-viewing tradition—where nature observation becomes existential meditation. Written in response to a friend's poem, it transcends mere description to reveal the paradox of "leisure without repose," blending crystalline imagery with mortal fragility in signature Chengzhai Style.
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.
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.
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View All Poets →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.