Text based on Tang, Guizhang 唐圭璋 (ed.). Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965, 300.
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.Published by The Global Medieval Sourcebook.
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This tune also goes by the name “River Town”, and “River Town” is the tune name for another of Su Shi’s poems in the collection, “Hunting in Mizhou”.
Su Shi’s first wife, Wang Fu, died in 1065 CE; by the time he wrote this song, it had been ten years since her death.
Wang Fu was buried in Meizhou, far away from Su Shi’s current location in Mizhou.
During the Song Dynasty, people traveled by horse and carriage, and “Dust all over my face” implies that the poet traveled a lot during the ten years. It also suggests that a lot had happened to him, and that complicated life experiences had made the older poet very different from his younger self.
This tune also goes by the name “River Town”, and “River Town” is the tune name for another of Su Shi’s poems in the collection, “Hunting in Mizhou”.
Su Shi’s first wife, Wang Fu, died in 1065 CE; by the time he wrote this song, it had been ten years since her death.
Wang Fu was buried in Meizhou, far away from Su Shi’s current location in Mizhou.
During the Song Dynasty, people traveled by horse and carriage, and “Dust all over my face” implies that the poet traveled a lot during the ten years. It also suggests that a lot had happened to him, and that complicated life experiences had made the older poet very different from his younger self.
Su Shi’s first wife, Wang Fu, died in 1065 CE; by the time he wrote this song, it had been ten years since her death.
Wang Fu was buried in Meizhou, far away from Su Shi’s current location in Mizhou.
During the Song Dynasty, people traveled by horse and carriage, and “Dust all over my face” implies that the poet traveled a lot during the ten years. It also suggests that a lot had happened to him, and that complicated life experiences had made the older poet very different from his younger self.