266. Wuyi Lane | Liu Yuxi
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
朱雀桥边野草花，乌衣巷口夕阳斜。
English translation
By the Vermilion Bird Bridge grow wild grasses and flowers; at the mouth of Wuyi Lane the sun slants low.
The Vermilion Bird Bridge was a pontoon bridge over the Qinhuai River in Jiankang, the capital of the Six Dynasties, now Nanjing. Wuyi Lane was where the great Eastern Jin families such as Wang Dao and Xie An lived. Now weeds crowd the bridge and only the setting sun lights the lane; the former splendor is gone.
Original Chinese text
旧时王谢堂前燕，飞入寻常百姓家。
English translation
The swallows that once nested before the halls of Wang and Xie now fly into the homes of ordinary people.
Wang and Xie were the great clans of the Eastern Jin and stand for former eminence; ordinary means plain and common. The swallows know nothing of rank and nest in the same place as before, but the owners have changed from great houses to common folk. The bird's constancy throws the human changes into relief.
赏析 · Commentary
用一只燕子写兴亡 · Rise and Fall Told by a Swallow
诗没有直接议论六朝的盛衰，只选了燕子这个见证者。它还在同一条巷子里，还是照旧筑巢，变化发生在屋子的主人身上：从王谢豪门到寻常百姓。旧与新由同一只燕子的飞行连在一起，兴亡之感因此具体可见。
The poem never states outright that the Six Dynasties rose and fell; it chooses a swallow as witness. The bird is still in the same lane, still nesting as before. What has changed is who lives in the houses—from the great clans Wang and Xie to ordinary folk. One swallow's flight joins past and present, so the sense of decline becomes visible.
夕阳与野草先说出了一半答案 · Sunset and Weeds Give Half the Answer
前两句其实已经暗示了结局：桥边无人打理，长满野草花；巷口只剩夕阳。等后两句燕子出现，读者才明白这片荒凉曾经属于谁。刘禹锡把小景写得平静，越平静，越能显出盛衰之重。
The opening couplet already hints at the outcome: no one tends the bridge, so wild flowers and grass take over, and only the setting sun lights the lane. When the swallows appear, the reader realizes whose splendor this desolation once was. Liu Yuxi keeps the small scene calm, and the calmer it is, the more the weight of rise and fall shows through.