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Su Shi. "To the tune “Song of the Immortal in the Grotto”—Skin of Ice and Bones of Jade." Global Medieval Sourcebook.Text based on Tang, Guizhang 唐圭璋 (ed.). Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965, 279. .
洞仙歌 | To the tune “Song of the Immortal in the Grotto”
Source Information
洞仙歌 | To the tune “Song of the Immortal in the Grotto”
by Su Shi
Text Source:
Text based on Tang, Guizhang 唐圭璋 (ed.). Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965, 279.
Responsibility Statement:
- Text based on Tang, Guizhang 唐圭璋 (ed.). Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965, 279.
- Translation by Qian Jia
- Notes by Nina Du, Runqi Zhang, and Dante Zhu
- Encoded in TEI P5 XML by Manya Bansal and Dante Zhu
Editorial Principles:
Texts are translated into modern English with maximum fidelity to the original text, except where it would impair comprehension or good style. Archaisms are preserved where they do not conflict with the aesthetic of the original text. Creative translation choices are marked and discussed in the critical notes.
The original text of this ci is based on the edition by Tang Guizhang 唐圭璋 (Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965). Punctuation follows the edition. Since ci poetry rarely includes personal pronouns, and gender-differentiated pronouns did not exist in Classical Chinese of this period, the gender of the speaker as well as their perspective (e.g. first, second or third person) must often be deduced by the translator from context.
Punctuation follows the edition.Publication Details:
Published by The Global Medieval Sourcebook.
The Global Medieval Sourcebook is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
洞仙歌 To the tune “Song of the Immortal in the Grotto” 冰肌玉骨 Skin of Ice and Bones of Jade
余七歲時見眉山老尼姓朱 When I was seven, I once met an old nun from Meishan
c
whose surname was Zhu, Critical note:
Meishan was Su Shi's hometown, in present-day Sichuan Province.
忘其名， but I have forgotten her given name.
年九十餘， She was more than ninety years old.
自言： She said that
嘗隨其師入蜀主孟昶宮中 she used to accompany her master to the palace of Meng Chang, who is the Lord of Shu.
一日大熱， One day, there was a great heat.
蜀主與花蕊夫人夜起避暑摩訶池上 The Lord of Shu and Lady Huarui
c
got up at night to enjoy the cool air outdoors by the Maha Pond.Critical note:
Lady Huarui 花蕊夫人 was the Lord of Shu's favorite concubine and a poet in her own right. "Lady Huarui" was not her birth name, but rather given to her by the Lord of Shu after her appearance was compared to the pistil of a flower ("huarui" is the Chinese word for pistil).
c
Critical note:
“Maha” means great in Sanskrit. Situated in Sichuan, “Maha Pond” is a large pond in the palace of the Lord of Shu.
作一詞。 He composed a song
朱具能記之。 And Zhu remembered the entire piece.
今四十年， It has been forty years
朱已死， that Zhu has been dead;
人無知此詞者。 No one else knows this song.
但記其首兩句， I can only remember the first couple of lines.
暇日尋味， During my leisure time I savored it：
豈洞仙歌令乎， isn’t it to the tune of “Song of the Immortal in the Grotto”?
乃為足之 I have thus composed the rest of the piece to make up for the missing part.
冰肌玉骨， Skin of ice and bones of jade,
c
Critical note:
This is a phrase used to describe the beauty of women’s bodies, clean like ice and smooth like jade. It comes from a philosophical work by Zhuangzi, in which he uses “skin of ice and bones of jade” to describe a deity living in the Gu Ye Mountain. The phrase suggests a somewhat otherworldly beauty.
自清涼無汗。 are naturally fresh and cool, with no sweat.
水殿風來暗香滿。 A light wind blows in the palace upon the water, infusing it with a subtle aroma.
繡簾開、 The embroidered curtain is lifted:
5
一點明月窺人. a fraction of the bright moon light is usedc
to peek at the beauty. Critical note:
By the Lord of Shu.
人未寢、 The beauty has not yet slept,
倚枕釵橫鬢亂。 leaning on the pillow, with her hairpin laid aside and the hair at her temples unkempt.
起來攜素手， She gets out of bed and I hold her fair hands;
庭戶無聲， the courtyard is silent.
10
時見疏星度河漢。 From time to time, scattered stars are seen crossing the Milky Way. 試問夜如何， She asks: what time of night is it?
夜已三更， It is already midnight.
金波淡， The golden wave
c
of moonlight is fading; Critical note:
Here the “golden wave” refers to the moonlight.
玉繩低轉。 the Jade Rope
c
descends. Critical note:
“The Jade Rope” is the name of the two stars to the north of the fifth star of the Dipper. In autumn, when the Jade Rope moves to the northwest and slowly descends, it is usually close to daybreak.
15
但屈指、 She counts on her fingers: 西風幾時來， when will the west wind
c
come? Critical note:
Western wind is an image with multiple meanings in Chinese poetry. Here it is most likely used to endow the line with a melancholic tone.
又不道、 Without noticing,
流年暗中偷換 the fleeting years are secretly stolen away.
洞仙歌 To the tune “Song of the Immortal in the Grotto” 冰肌玉骨 Skin of Ice and Bones of Jade
余七歲時見眉山老尼姓朱 When I was seven, I once met an old nun from Meishan
c
whose surname was Zhu, Critical note:
Meishan was Su Shi's hometown, in present-day Sichuan Province.
忘其名， but I have forgotten her given name.
年九十餘， She was more than ninety years old.
自言： She said that
嘗隨其師入蜀主孟昶宮中 she used to accompany her master to the palace of Meng Chang, who is the Lord of Shu.
一日大熱， One day, there was a great heat.
蜀主與花蕊夫人夜起避暑摩訶池上 The Lord of Shu and Lady Huarui
c
got up at night to enjoy the cool air outdoors by the Maha Pond.Critical note:
Lady Huarui 花蕊夫人 was the Lord of Shu's favorite concubine and a poet in her own right. "Lady Huarui" was not her birth name, but rather given to her by the Lord of Shu after her appearance was compared to the pistil of a flower ("huarui" is the Chinese word for pistil).
c
Critical note:
“Maha” means great in Sanskrit. Situated in Sichuan, “Maha Pond” is a large pond in the palace of the Lord of Shu.
作一詞。 He composed a song
朱具能記之。 And Zhu remembered the entire piece.
今四十年， It has been forty years
朱已死， that Zhu has been dead;
人無知此詞者。 No one else knows this song.
但記其首兩句， I can only remember the first couple of lines.
暇日尋味， During my leisure time I savored it：
豈洞仙歌令乎， isn’t it to the tune of “Song of the Immortal in the Grotto”?
乃為足之 I have thus composed the rest of the piece to make up for the missing part.
冰肌玉骨， Skin of ice and bones of jade,
c
Critical note:
This is a phrase used to describe the beauty of women’s bodies, clean like ice and smooth like jade. It comes from a philosophical work by Zhuangzi, in which he uses “skin of ice and bones of jade” to describe a deity living in the Gu Ye Mountain. The phrase suggests a somewhat otherworldly beauty.
自清涼無汗。 are naturally fresh and cool, with no sweat.
水殿風來暗香滿。 A light wind blows in the palace upon the water, infusing it with a subtle aroma.
繡簾開、 The embroidered curtain is lifted:
5
一點明月窺人. a fraction of the bright moon light is usedc
to peek at the beauty. Critical note:
By the Lord of Shu.
人未寢、 The beauty has not yet slept,
倚枕釵橫鬢亂。 leaning on the pillow, with her hairpin laid aside and the hair at her temples unkempt.
起來攜素手， She gets out of bed and I hold her fair hands;
庭戶無聲， the courtyard is silent.
10
時見疏星度河漢。 From time to time, scattered stars are seen crossing the Milky Way. 試問夜如何， She asks: what time of night is it?
夜已三更， It is already midnight.
金波淡， The golden wave
c
of moonlight is fading; Critical note:
Here the “golden wave” refers to the moonlight.
玉繩低轉。 the Jade Rope
c
descends. Critical note:
“The Jade Rope” is the name of the two stars to the north of the fifth star of the Dipper. In autumn, when the Jade Rope moves to the northwest and slowly descends, it is usually close to daybreak.
15
但屈指、 She counts on her fingers: 西風幾時來， when will the west wind
c
come? Critical note:
Western wind is an image with multiple meanings in Chinese poetry. Here it is most likely used to endow the line with a melancholic tone.
又不道、 Without noticing,
流年暗中偷換 the fleeting years are secretly stolen away.
Critical Notes
Translation
Unnumbered line
Critical note: Meishan was Su Shi's hometown, in present-day Sichuan Province.
Translation
Unnumbered line
Critical note: Lady Huarui 花蕊夫人 was the Lord of Shu's favorite concubine and a poet in her own right. "Lady Huarui" was not her birth name, but rather given to her by the Lord of Shu after her appearance was compared to the pistil of a flower ("huarui" is the Chinese word for pistil).
Translation
Unnumbered line
Critical note: “Maha” means great in Sanskrit. Situated in Sichuan, “Maha Pond” is a large pond in the palace of the Lord of Shu.
Translation
Line number 1
Critical note: This is a phrase used to describe the beauty of women’s bodies, clean like ice and smooth like jade. It comes from a philosophical work by Zhuangzi, in which he uses “skin of ice and bones of jade” to describe a deity living in the Gu Ye Mountain. The phrase suggests a somewhat otherworldly beauty.
Translation
Line number 5
Critical note: By the Lord of Shu.
Translation
Line number 13
Critical note: Here the “golden wave” refers to the moonlight.
Translation
Line number 14
Critical note: “The Jade Rope” is the name of the two stars to the north of the fifth star of the Dipper. In autumn, when the Jade Rope moves to the northwest and slowly descends, it is usually close to daybreak.
Translation
Line number 16
Critical note: Western wind is an image with multiple meanings in Chinese poetry. Here it is most likely used to endow the line with a melancholic tone.
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