In gala robes she comes down from her chamber
Into her courtyard, enclosure of spring...
When she tries from the centre to count the flowers,
On her hairpin of jade a dragon-fly poises.
Original Poem:
「和乐天春词」
刘禹锡
新妆宜面下朱楼， 深锁春光一院愁。
行到中庭数花朵， 蜻蜓飞上玉搔头。
Interpretation:
This is the work of Liu Yuxi and Bai Juyi when he was a guest of the master. Bai Juyi’s “Spring Lyrics” says: “The low-flowering trees reflect the small make-up building, and the spring people have two points of sadness on their brows. Leaning against the appendage with a parrot at my back, I pondered what would keep me from turning back.” The poem is about a young woman who is gazing at a building on a spring day. Liu Yuxi’s poem follows Bai Juyi’s poem, describing her movements as she comes down the stairs.
The first and second lines of the poem say that the heroine has finished her make-up, and then she goes downstairs to invite her favor, but the spring light is locked up, and there is no one to appreciate her, so she only feels “sorrow” in the courtyard. The third and fourth sentences say she was bored, had to count the flowers to relieve boredom, I can’t imagine that the dragonflies are ignorant, but also love the new makeup fly up to the head. These two sentences in the ruthless but sentimental, both on the heroine’s beautiful face of the foil, but also on its lonely lonely unappreciated lament. This line from the side to write out the grievances, the cleverness lies in the implicit not reveal.
This is a poem of palace complaint. After the beauty carefully combed and made up, she went down to the vermilion building, but no one appreciated her. In her disappointment, the dragonfly comes to admire her new makeup. At a glance, it is clear that the heroine is in a lonely and cold situation. It expresses the resentment that no one appreciates her new make-up though it is good. The whole poem is delicate and vivid, leaving much room for imagination.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Liu Yuxi(刘禹锡), 772 – 842 AD, was a native of Hebei. He was a progressive statesman and thinker in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, and a poet with unique achievements in this period. In his compositions, there is no lack of poems reflecting current affairs and the plight of the people.
