Over the West Pavilion Clouds of Ink Pass by
Chinese original: Su Shi (11th AC, social name 'Zizhan', art name 'Dongpo')
English translation & annotation: Julia Min (Aug. 2024)
Over the west pavilion clouds of ink pass by,
Dragging heavy drops away from the sunset sky.
Yangtse River runs eastward in waves of white,
Taking with it the last breath of cloudy climes.
Along the banks willows bow to the golden light
That touch curtain hooks to shimmer and shine.
It’s a blooming garden with freshly filtered wine,
All sweetly tuned for a lushy venue of delight.
My beauty has a smile like the starry night.
The silver moon, now pale and shy, has to hide.
Her singing is like gentle whispers of the night.
Her fair fan in hand soothes my moody mind.
To River South my peers in the endless fight right:
Such fun in Yangzhou I wouldn’t change for thine.
Appreciation:
It’s a sentimental poem, a spur-of-the-moment yet well-structured with a yin-yang revolving pattern for a dynamic outcome built with words. Your imaginary eye would follow the poet from west to east, then from the distant to the near only to highlight the main role - the beauty, then to friends afar, and back to ‘me’ here. This could be quite impressive to many people but nothing unique in literature among the Chinese literati. It has been a habitual mindset, like a code pattern set in the Chinese ideology bloodline. And Su Shi was a master of the format.
Let’s dig a little deeper. The readers here are entertained by a passing storm over the west pavilion/chamber which implies, in Chinese literature, the room for ladies / beautiful lovers. Here it foreshadows the singing girl who kept him company during the occasion. Then we are led to the east with the river flowing to the East Sea, suggesting his cloudy days were over, or were supposed to be over for a clearer and freer world. The spring view, the beauty, the wine, and the music were supposed to put him on the moon. Yet, something was bothering him, which was revealed, as usual, in the last couplet that undertones the endless fight between the conservative old party, and the new party, pointing to the miseries of the people even after a prosperous year as they were compelled to pay a lot more debt and tax according to the New Law.
Dongpo was the Magistrate/Mayor of Yangzhou from March to August 1092 after he served as the Secretary-General to the Emperor and Governor of Zhejiang. He was likely greeted by the local officials and gentlemen's society at a garden party where he was invited to compose a poem for the occasion. It was a short stay at Yangzhou but the local people have since loved him for, among other achievements, his huge effort trying to reduce their debt which was finally waived for one year by the emperor.
江城子·墨云拖雨过西楼
原作: 苏轼（字子瞻, 号东坡居士; 11世纪北宋）
英译及赏析: 闵晓红(2024.08)
墨云拖雨过西楼。
水东流，晚烟收。
柳外残阳，回照动帘钩。
今夜巫山真个好，
花未落，酒新篘。
美人微笑转星眸。
月华羞，捧金瓯。
歌扇萦风，吹散一春愁。
试问江南诸伴侣，
谁似我，醉扬州。
Reference:
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