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Bo Suàn ZiBu Suan Zi: Farewell 卜算子

Wang Guan (王观, also known as Wang Kuan)｜Northern Song｜ci (song lyric)

Wang Guan sees a friend off to the south, comparing hills and rivers to eyes and brows.

Original Chinese text with pinyin

水是眼波横
shuǐ shì yǎn bō héng

山是眉峰聚
shān shì méi fēng jù

欲问行人去那边
yù wèn xíng rén qù nà biān

眉眼盈盈处
méi yǎn yíng yíng chù

若到江南赶上春
ruò dào jiāng nán gǎn shàng chūn

千万和春住
qiān wàn hé chūn zhù

Simplified characters; traditional title: 卜算子. This is a long poem; only the best-known lines are shown, and “……” marks omitted passages.

Note on the text: This page presents a well-known excerpt; the full poem is longer in the traditional corpus.

The water is the sideways glance of her eyes;

the hills are her gathered brows.

You ask where the traveller is going —

to where those eyes and brows are brimming.

If you reach the south in time to catch the spring,

by all means stay there with the spring.

Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.

水是眼波横 · shuǐ shì yǎn bō héng — The water is the sideways glance of her eyes;

山是眉峰聚 · shān shì méi fēng jù — the hills are her gathered brows.

欲问行人去那边 · yù wèn xíng rén qù nà biān — You ask where the traveller is going —

眉眼盈盈处 · méi yǎn yíng yíng chù — to where those eyes and brows are brimming.

若到江南赶上春 · ruò dào jiāng nán gǎn shàng chūn — If you reach the south in time to catch the spring,

千万和春住 · qiān wàn hé chūn zhù — by all means stay there with the spring.

Wang Guan sees a friend off to the south, comparing hills and rivers to eyes and brows. The scene stays with you.

Wang Guan sees a friend off to the south, comparing hills and rivers to eyes and brows.

Wang Guan wrote the Busuanzi comparing Jiangnan spring to a woman dressing.

Lifetime: Northern Song. Other famous works: Bu Suan Zi: Farewell (卜算子).