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Sì Shí Tián Yuán Zá XīngRural Life in Four Seasons (Spring) 四时田园杂兴
Fan Chengda on a spring farm: butterflies in rapeseed flowers, chickens and dogs.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
蝴蝶双双入菜花
hú dié shuāng shuāng rù cài huā
日长无客到田家
rì zhǎng wú kè dào tián jiā
鸡飞过篱犬吠窦
jī fēi guò lí quǎn fèi dòu
知有行商来买茶
zhī yǒu xíng shāng lái mǎi chá
Simplified characters; traditional title: 四時田園雜興.
English translation
Butterflies in pairs flit into the rapeseed flowers;
the days are long and no guest comes to the farm.
A hen flies over the fence, the dog barks at the hole —
a pedlar must have come to buy our tea.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Fan Chengda on a spring farm: butterflies in rapeseed flowers, chickens and dogs. The scene stays with you.
Background
Fan Chengda on a spring farm: butterflies in rapeseed flowers, chickens and dogs.
Key words
- 双双 shuāng shuāng
- in pairs; two by two
- 蝴蝶 hú dié
- butterflies
- 入菜 rù cài
- added to the dish; into the greens
About the poet: Fan Chengda
Fan Chengda is loved for seasonal farm poems such as the Fields and Gardens series.
Lifetime: 1126–1193. Other famous works: Rural Life in Four Seasons (Summer) (四时田园杂兴); Rural Life in Four Seasons (Early Summer) (四时田园杂兴); Rural Life in Four Seasons (Spring) (四时田园杂兴).