泊秦淮 original text
Stay close to the sentence.
Smoke cages the cold water; moon cages the sand.
At night I moor at Qinhuai near a tavern.
The singing girls do not know the grief of a fallen state.
Across the river they still sing the song Rear Courtyard Flowers.
Let the image breathe.
Smoke veils the cold water, moonlight veils the sand.
At night I moor on Qinhuai, close to the taverns.
The singers do not know the sorrow of a fallen court;
across the river, they still sing Rear Courtyard Flowers.
What to know
The poem invokes a song associated with the Chen court and its later fall. The speaker does not accuse the singers of causing history; instead, the night entertainment becomes a sharp reminder of how easily a society can forget what came before.
What to notice
The paired verbs for smoke and moonlight create a soft, enclosed atmosphere. That beauty is interrupted by the final song, whose historical memory changes the meaning of the whole river scene.
Three useful phrases.
- 籠
- to veil, enfold, or cage; the repeated verb makes the scene hazy
- 商女
- female singers who performed in entertainment venues
- 後庭花
- Rear Courtyard Flowers, a song linked with the last Chen ruler