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Pò Zhèn ZiPo Zhen Zi: Spring Scene 破阵子

Yan Shu (晏殊, also known as )｜Northern Song｜ci (song lyric)

Yan Shu on the season around Qingming: swallows, pear blossom, orioles, catkins.

Original Chinese text with pinyin

燕子来时新社
yàn zi lái shí xīn shè

梨花落后清明
lí huā luò hòu qīng míng

池上碧苔三四点
chí shàng bì tái sān sì diǎn

叶底黄鹂一两声
yè dǐ huáng lí yī liǎng shēng

日长飞絮轻
rì zhǎng fēi xù qīng

Simplified characters; traditional title: 破陣子. This is a long poem; only the best-known lines are shown, and “……” marks omitted passages.

Note on the text: This page presents a well-known excerpt; the full poem is longer in the traditional corpus.

The swallows return at the spring festival;

the pear blossoms fall, and then comes Qingming.

On the pond, three or four dots of green moss;

under the leaves, one or two notes of the oriole;

the days grow long, and the willow down drifts light.

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

燕子来时新社 · yàn zi lái shí xīn shè — The swallows return at the spring festival;

梨花落后清明 · lí huā luò hòu qīng míng — the pear blossoms fall, and then comes Qingming.

池上碧苔三四点 · chí shàng bì tái sān sì diǎn — On the pond, three or four dots of green moss;

叶底黄鹂一两声 · yè dǐ huáng lí yī liǎng shēng — under the leaves, one or two notes of the oriole;

日长飞絮轻 · rì zhǎng fēi xù qīng — the days grow long, and the willow down drifts light.

Yan Shu on the season around Qingming: swallows, pear blossom, orioles, catkins. The scene stays with you.

Yan Shu on the season around Qingming: swallows, pear blossom, orioles, catkins.

Yan Shu wrote jewel-like ci of spring grief and fleeting bloom.

Lifetime: 991–1055. Other famous works: Po Zhen Zi: Spring Scene (破阵子).