ChineseStudy

11. Tune: Sand of Silk-Washing Stream I (Yan Shu)

Contents

Text

English translation

A new song, a cup of wine; the weather and pond-side terrace seem unchanged from last year. The sun is sinking in the west—when will it return?

There is no way to prevent the blossoms from falling. The returning swallows seem familiar, as if seen before. Alone, the speaker paces along the fragrant path in the small garden.

词句注释 · Notes

上片 · First stanza

上片从新词与酒写起，随后以“去年”唤出似曾相识的时序感。景物仿佛重来，夕阳却仍不可挽留；“几时回”既问落日，也为下片的花落与燕归铺垫。

The opening joins a new song with wine, then “last year” introduces a sense of recurrence. The scene seems familiar, yet the setting sun cannot be held back. Its question prepares the returning flowers and swallows in the next stanza.

下片 · Second stanza

“花落去”与“燕归来”一去一来，写出不可逆的流逝和周期性的重返。“似曾相识”让归燕带着记忆感；结尾落到独自徘徊，春景因此染上淡淡怅惘。

Falling blossoms and returning swallows set irreversible loss beside seasonal recurrence. “Seem familiar” gives the swallows a quality of memory; the final solitary pacing lends the spring scene a quiet melancholy.

Feedback