299. Autumn Night Song | Wang Wei
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
桂魄初生秋露微，轻罗已薄未更衣。
English translation
The cassia-soul moon has just risen, the autumn dew is faint; the light silk is already thin, yet she has not changed her dress.
The cassia-soul is the moon, so called because of the cassia tree said to grow in it; has just risen means the moon is newly up. The autumn dew is faint means the night dew has begun to fall but is not yet heavy. Light silk is a thin silken summer garment; already thin says the dress no longer holds off the night chill; yet she has not changed means she puts off changing, her mind not on her clothes. The couplet gives the coolness of the autumn night and the woman's abstraction. (The usual text assigns the poem to Wang Wei; the chinese-poetry dataset assigns it to Wang Ya, so the attribution is disputed.)
Original Chinese text
银筝夜久殷勤弄，心怯空房不忍归。
English translation
On the silver zither, deep in the night, she plies it over and over; her heart dreads the empty room, and she cannot bear to go in.
A silver zither is a finely adorned zither; deep in the night means the hour is late; plies it over and over means she plays and touches it again and again, using the music to pass the long night. Her heart dreads the empty room names her situation and her trouble: what she fears is keeping the room alone; cannot bear to go in follows from the playing above—it is not that she loves the zither, but that she dare not stop and will not go back. The four lines move from the outer scene to the heart.
赏析 · Commentary
凉意一层层逼来 · The Chill Presses In, Layer by Layer
诗从月升、露起写起，再写罗衣太薄、尚未添衣。天气一层层转凉，人却浑然不觉，说明她心里想的是别的事。到“心怯空房”四字，才把这个“别的事”点破：她怕的不是秋凉，是独处。
The poem begins with the rising moon and the first dew, then the silk dress too thin and the coat not yet added. The weather cools layer by layer and she does not notice, which shows her mind is on something else. Only with the words her heart dreads the empty room does that something break through: what she fears is not the autumn chill but being alone.
借弹筝拖延回房 · Playing On to Put Off Going In
夜深了还在弹筝，表面是专心音乐，实则是借它留住自己。她不是不愿回房，而是怕那间空房。诗人把这一层心理写得极细：弹得越殷勤，越说明她不敢停手。
She plays late into the night, seemingly absorbed in music, but really using it to hold herself there. It is not that she will not go back, but that she dreads that empty room. The poet renders this psychology with great fineness: the more earnestly she plays, the more it shows she dares not stop.