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Mò MéiInk Plum 墨梅

Wang Mian (王冕, also known as )｜Yuan｜seven-character quatrain

Wang Mian's poem on his ink painting of plum blossom: no bright colours, only clean air.

Original Chinese text with pinyin

我家洗砚池头树
wǒ jiā xǐ yàn chí tóu shù

朶朶花开淡墨痕
duǒ duǒ huā kāi dàn mò hén

不要人夸好颜色
bú yào rén kuā hǎo yán sè

只留清气满乾坤
zhǐ liú qīng qì mǎn qián kūn

Simplified characters; traditional title: 墨梅.

The tree beside the pond where I wash my inkstone:

each blossom opens in traces of pale ink.

It needs no one to praise its pretty colour —

it only leaves its pure air filling heaven and earth.

Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.

我家洗砚池头树 · wǒ jiā xǐ yàn chí tóu shù — The tree beside the pond where I wash my inkstone:

朶朶花开淡墨痕 · duǒ duǒ huā kāi dàn mò hén — each blossom opens in traces of pale ink.

不要人夸好颜色 · bú yào rén kuā hǎo yán sè — It needs no one to praise its pretty colour —

只留清气满乾坤 · zhǐ liú qīng qì mǎn qián kūn — it only leaves its pure air filling heaven and earth.

Wang Mian's poem on his ink painting of plum blossom: no bright colours, only clean air. The scene stays with you.

Wang Mian's poem on his ink painting of plum blossom: no bright colours, only clean air.

Wang Mian, painter of ink plums, wrote the matching Ink Plum poem.

Lifetime: 1287–1359. Other famous works: Ink Plum (墨梅).