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ChánCicada 蝉

Yu Shinan (虞世南, also known as Yü Shih-nan)｜Early Tang｜five-character quatrain

Yu Shinan on the cicada: its voice carries because it sits high, not because of the wind.

Original Chinese text with pinyin

垂緌饮清露
chuí ruí yǐn qīng lù

流响出疎桐
liú xiǎng chū shū tóng

居高声自远
jū gāo shēng zì yuǎn

非是藉秋风
fēi shì jí qiū fēng

Simplified characters; traditional title: 蟬.

Its tassels hanging, it drinks the clear dew;

its flowing song comes from the sparse paulownia.

High up, its voice carries far on its own —

it doesn't need to borrow the autumn wind.

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

垂緌饮清露 · chuí ruí yǐn qīng lù — Its tassels hanging, it drinks the clear dew;

流响出疎桐 · liú xiǎng chū shū tóng — its flowing song comes from the sparse paulownia.

居高声自远 · jū gāo shēng zì yuǎn — High up, its voice carries far on its own —

非是藉秋风 · fēi shì jí qiū fēng — it doesn't need to borrow the autumn wind.

Yu Shinan on the cicada: its voice carries because it sits high, not because of the wind. The scene stays with you.

Yu Shinan on the cicada: its voice carries because it sits high, not because of the wind.

Yu Shinan served Taizong; his cicada poem is read as a moral emblem.

Lifetime: 558–638. Other famous works: Cicada (蝉).