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Click to printSu Shi. "To the tune “River God”—Recording the Dream on the Night of the Twentieth of the First Month of 1075 CE." 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, 300. .

江神子 | To the tune “River God”

Source Information

江神子 | To the tune “River God”

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, 300.

Responsibility Statement:
  • Text based on Tang, Guizhang 唐圭璋 (ed.). Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965, 300.
  • 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.

江神子 To the tune “River God”
c
Critical note:

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”.

乙卯正月二十日夜記夢 Recording the Dream on the Night of the Twentieth of the First Month of 1075 CE
十年生死兩茫茫。 For ten years, the dead and the living have been separated by a vast and obscure distance
c
Critical note:

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.

.
不思量。 I forced myself not to think of you,
自難忘。 But it is hard for me to forget.
千里孤墳, The solitary grave, a thousand miles away,
c
Critical note:

Wang Fu was buried in Meizhou, far away from Su Shi’s current location in Mizhou.

5
無處話凄涼。 Nowhere to speak about this loneliness and misery of mine.
縱使相逢應不識, Even if we could meet, you would not recognize me.
塵滿面, Dust all over my face
c
Critical note:

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.

,
鬢如霜。 and the hair at my temples like frost.
夜來幽夢忽還鄉。 Yesterday night, in a mournful dream, I suddenly returned to my hometown.
10
小軒窗。 By the small window,
正梳妝。 you were combing your hair and doing your makeup.
相顧無言, We gazed at each other, speechless;
惟有淚千行。 only thousands of lines of tears coursed down.
料得年年腸斷處, I know your heart breaks for me year after year
15
明月夜, On moonlit nights,
短松岡。 upon the hill with the low pine trees.
江神子 To the tune “River God”
c
Critical note:

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”.

乙卯正月二十日夜記夢 Recording the Dream on the Night of the Twentieth of the First Month of 1075 CE
十年生死兩茫茫。 For ten years, the dead and the living have been separated by a vast and obscure distance
c
Critical note:

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.

.
不思量。 I forced myself not to think of you,
自難忘。 But it is hard for me to forget.
千里孤墳, The solitary grave, a thousand miles away,
c
Critical note:

Wang Fu was buried in Meizhou, far away from Su Shi’s current location in Mizhou.

5
無處話凄涼。 Nowhere to speak about this loneliness and misery of mine.
縱使相逢應不識, Even if we could meet, you would not recognize me.
塵滿面, Dust all over my face
c
Critical note:

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.

,
鬢如霜。 and the hair at my temples like frost.
夜來幽夢忽還鄉。 Yesterday night, in a mournful dream, I suddenly returned to my hometown.
10
小軒窗。 By the small window,
正梳妝。 you were combing your hair and doing your makeup.
相顧無言, We gazed at each other, speechless;
惟有淚千行。 only thousands of lines of tears coursed down.
料得年年腸斷處, I know your heart breaks for me year after year
15
明月夜, On moonlit nights,
短松岡。 upon the hill with the low pine trees.
Critical Notes
Translation
Line number 1
Critical note:

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.

Translation
Line number 4
Critical note:

Wang Fu was buried in Meizhou, far away from Su Shi’s current location in Mizhou.

Translation
Line number 7
Critical note:

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.

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