Home › Poems › Night Mooring at Maple Bridge
Fēng Qiáo Yè BóNight Mooring at Maple Bridge 枫桥夜泊
A sleepless traveler hears the midnight bell of Hanshan Temple.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
月落乌啼霜满天
yuè luò wū tí shuāng mǎn tiān
江枫渔火对愁眠
jiāng fēng yú huǒ duì chóu mián
姑苏城外寒山寺
gū sū chéng wài hán shān sì
夜半钟声到客船
yè bàn zhōng shēng dào kè chuán
Simplified characters; traditional title: 楓橋夜泊.
English translation
At moonset cry the crows, streaking the frosty sky;
Dimly lit fishing boats 'neath maples sadly lie.
Beyond the city walls, from Temple of Cold Hill,
Bells break the ship-borne roamer's dream and midnight still.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Line one stacks three images — setting moon, crying crows, frost "filling the sky" (really the cold night air) — to create a dark, chilly atmosphere. The lights of fishing boats flicker against the traveler's sleeplessness. Then the poem switches from sight to sound: the temple bell carries across the water and finally "reaches" the boat. That single sound gathers up the night's loneliness and gives it a voice, which is why the poem has echoed through East Asia for twelve centuries.
Background
Written as Zhang Ji moored at Maple Bridge outside Suzhou (Gusu), possibly while fleeing the turmoil of the An Lushan Rebellion. The poem made Hanshan Temple a pilgrimage site; its bell-ringing on New Year's Eve draws many visitors from Japan.
Key words
- 乌啼 wū tí
- crows cawing
- 渔火 yú huǒ
- lanterns on fishing boats
- 姑苏 Gūsū
- old name for Suzhou
- 客船 kè chuán
- a traveler's boat
About the poet: Zhang Ji
Zhang Ji passed the imperial examination in 753, but little else about his life is certain. One short poem, written while moored near Suzhou, made him and Hanshan Temple famous across East Asia; it is especially beloved in Japan.
Lifetime: c. 715–779. Other famous works: Night Mooring at Maple Bridge (枫桥夜泊).