When the moon has coloured half the house,
With the North Star at its height and the South Star setting,
I can feel the first motions of the warm air of spring
In the singing of an insect at my green-silk window.
Original Poem:
「月夜」
刘方平
更深月色半人家， 北斗阑干南斗斜。
今夜偏知春气暖， 虫声新透绿窗沙。
Interpretation:
The poet puts aside the sign of spring and takes in the quiet and chilly moonlit night scene, which is subtle and expresses the relief and delight of spring on earth.
The first and second lines write about the quietness of the moonlit night from the perspective of looking up. In the middle of the night, the moon hangs diagonally in the sky, reflecting on the households, half of the courtyard is bathed in bright moonlight, while the other half is shrouded by the dark shadows of the night. The contrast between light and darkness emphasizes the quietness of the moonlit night and the silence of the courtyard. Next, the poet moves from near to far, drawing the eye from the home to the boundless sky, making the reader feel that the boundless sky is also shrouded by the silence of the night, with only a slanting moon and the horizontal Big Dipper and Big Dipper suggesting without words that time is like flowing water.
The third and fourth lines write about the spring revealed in the moonlit night through the sound of insects. In the middle of the night, when it is cold and quiet, the sensitive bugs are the first to sense the message of spring in the night air, and thus chirp crisply and cheerfully, making the poet feel the coming of spring. The poet is infected by the happy chirping of the insects and cannot help but think of the beautiful picture of spring returning to the earth.
The poet’s idea is novel and unique, choosing the moonlit night, which is seldom written for people, to write about the coming of spring, feeling the message of spring from the sound of insects, and writing out the warmth of spring from the cold air. The poet has a keen and delicate sense of feeling.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the Poet:
Liu Fangping(刘方平), whose date of birth and death is unknown, was a native of Luoyang and lived from Tianbao to Dali. Unrecognized for his talent, he lived in seclusion on the shores of the Yingshui and Ru River, and remained unrepresented throughout his life, as he was known at the time. He was a poet and friend of Huangfu Ran. He was a poet and good at painting landscapes.
