ChineseStudy

9. Tune: Celestial Immortal (Zhang Xian)

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Text

English translation

Holding a cup, the speaker listens to several phrases of the “Shuidiao” melody. The midday drunkenness passes, but the sorrow does not. Spring has been sent away; when will it return? At the evening mirror, time’s passage hurts, while past events and promises for a later meeting can only be recalled in vain.

Paired birds settle on the sand as dusk gathers over the pond. Clouds part; the moon appears, and flowers play with their shadows. Layer upon layer of curtains screens the lamp. The wind is unsettled, the household has only just grown quiet, and by tomorrow fallen petals will likely cover the path.

词句注释 · Notes

上片 · First stanza

题下注明词人当时任嘉禾小倅，因病未赴府会；正文则写听曲、午醉与送春。这里的“愁未醒”把醉醒和心情并置，“后期”指约定的后会，结尾写回忆仍在而约会无着。

The original heading says the poet, then a junior official in Jiahe, missed a government gathering because of illness. The poem itself moves through music, a midday drink, and the passing of spring. “The sorrow did not wake” contrasts physical recovery with unchanged grief; the promised later meeting remains only a memory.

下片 · Second stanza

下片由池边暮色转入室内帘幕，随后又把目光投向明日的小径。“云破月来”与“风不定”使花影和落红都处在变化中；末句不是单纯写景，也含着春光将尽的预感。

The stanza moves from dusk by the pond into the curtained room, then looks ahead to tomorrow’s path. Clouds parting and unsettled wind keep the shadows and petals in motion; the final image also anticipates spring’s end.

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