Home › Poems › Silk-Washing Stream: Dragon Boat Festival
Huàn Xī ShāSilk-Washing Stream: Dragon Boat Festival 浣溪沙
Su Shi on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival: orchid baths and coloured threads.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
轻汗微微透碧纨
qīng hàn wēi wēi tòu bì wán
明朝端午浴芳兰
míng cháo duān wǔ yù fāng lán
流香涨腻满晴川
liú xiāng zhǎng nì mǎn qíng chuān
彩线轻缠红玉臂
cǎi xiàn qīng chán hóng yù bì
小符斜挂绿云鬟
xiǎo fú xié guà lǜ yún huán
佳人相见一千年
jiā rén xiāng jiàn yī qiān nián
Simplified characters; traditional title: 浣溪沙.
English translation
A light sweat seeps through her blue silk;
tomorrow is Duanwu, a bath in fragrant orchids.
Fragrant water fills the sunny river;
coloured threads wound lightly on her red-jade arm,
a little charm hung aslant in her cloud of hair —
may we meet like this for a thousand years.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Su Shi on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival: orchid baths and coloured threads. The scene stays with you.
Background
Su Shi on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival: orchid baths and coloured threads.
Key words
- 碧纨 bì wán
- green silk gauze
- 轻汗 qīng hàn
- a light sweat
- 微微 wēi wēi
- faintly; gently
About the poet: Su Shi
Su Shi, better known as Su Dongpo, was a poet, essayist, painter, calligrapher and official — the great all-rounder of the Song dynasty. Repeatedly exiled, he met hardship with humor and philosophy, and made the ci (song lyric) a vehicle for grand themes.
Lifetime: 1037–1101. Other famous works: Prelude to Water Melody (When Will the Moon Be Clear?) (水调歌头); Spring Night (春夜); Remembering the Past at Red Cliff (念奴娇·赤壁怀古); Written on the Wall at West Forest Temple (题西林壁); Drinking at West Lake: First Sun, Then Rain (饮湖上初晴后雨); Red Cliff Rhapsody (赤壁赋); Gazing South from Chaoran Terrace (望江南); Drunk at Lake View Tower (六月二十七日望湖楼醉书); Spring River at Dusk (惠崇春江晚景); Crabapple (海棠); Silk-Washing Stream (浣溪沙); Silk-Washing Stream: Dragon Boat Festival (浣溪沙); Eating Lychees (食荔枝); On the Road to Xincheng (新城道中); Calming the Waves (定风波); For Liu Jingwen (赠刘景文).
More by Su Shi
- Spring Night春夜
- Written on the Wall at West Forest Temple题西林壁
- Drinking at West Lake: First Sun, Then Rain饮湖上初晴后雨
- Prelude to Water Melody (When Will the Moon Be Clear?)水调歌头
- Remembering the Past at Red Cliff念奴娇·赤壁怀古
- Gazing South from Chaoran Terrace望江南
- Drunk at Lake View Tower六月二十七日望湖楼醉书
- Spring River at Dusk惠崇春江晚景