White pebbles hear a blue stream glide;
Red leaves are strewn on cold hillside.
Along the path no rain is seen,
My gown is moist with drizzling green.
Original Poem:
「山中」
王维
荆溪白石出，天寒红叶稀。
山路元无雨，空翠湿人衣。
Interpretation:
This poem describes the scenery of the mountains in early winter when the poet was traveling in the mountains.
In the first two lines, the Thorny Stream is rushing past, revealing phosphorous white rocks, and the weather has become cold and the red leaves have become sparse.
This is probably the upstream part of the journey through the mountains. As mountain paths are often bordered by streams, it is easy to first notice the meandering stream, which seems to be a companion. Then write about the red leaves in the mountains. Splendid frosty leaves and red trees are the characteristics of autumn mountains. In winter, when it is cold, the red leaves become scarce.
The last two lines: It was not raining on the mountain path, but the color of the verdant mountains was so thick that it seemed to moisten people's clothes.
Mainly write the whole picture of the mountain in the early winter. It should be a dull and silent winter, but the whole Qinling Mountains are still full of pines and cypresses, luxuriant and green, and the mountain paths run through the boundless verdure. The verdant mountain color itself is empty and bright, unlike tangible objects that can be touched.
This winter scene in the mountains, composed of white stone and phosphorus streams, bright red leaves and boundless verdure, is colorful and vivid, and rich in poetry and picturesque.
Poem translator:
Xu Yuan-chong (许渊冲)
About the poet:
Wang Wei (王维), 701-761 A.D., was a native of Yuncheng, Shanxi Province. Wang Wei was a poet of landscape and idylls. His poems of landscape and idylls, with far-reaching images and mysterious meanings, were widely loved by readers in later generations, but Wang Wei never really became a man of landscape and idylls.
