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MéiPlum 梅

Wang Qi (王淇, also known as Wang Ch'i)｜Southern Song｜seven-character quatrain

Plum blossom untouched by dust, content beside a bamboo fence. Plums begin to flower around Minor Cold.

Original Chinese text with pinyin

不受尘埃半点侵
bù shòu chén āi bàn diǎn qīn

竹篱茅舎自甘心
zhú lí máo shè zì gān xīn

只因误识林和靖
zhǐ yīn wù shí lín hé jìng

惹得诗人说到今
rě dé shī rén shuō dào jīn

Simplified characters; traditional title: 梅.

Not the faintest speck of dust can touch it;

content beside a bamboo fence and a thatched hut.

Only because it once befriended Lin Hejing

have poets been singing of it ever since.

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

不受尘埃半点侵 · bù shòu chén āi bàn diǎn qīn — Not the faintest speck of dust can touch it;

竹篱茅舎自甘心 · zhú lí máo shè zì gān xīn — content beside a bamboo fence and a thatched hut.

只因误识林和靖 · zhǐ yīn wù shí lín hé jìng — Only because it once befriended Lin Hejing

惹得诗人说到今 · rě dé shī rén shuō dào jīn — have poets been singing of it ever since.

Plum blossom untouched by dust, content beside a bamboo fence. Plums begin to flower around Minor Cold. The scene stays with you.

Plum blossom untouched by dust, content beside a bamboo fence. Plums begin to flower around Minor Cold.

Wang Qi is known for an anthologized plum poem.

Lifetime: Southern Song. Other famous works: Plum (梅).