Yīng Zhào Fù Dé Chú YèNew Year's Eve 应诏赋得除夜
New Year's Eve: the old year ends and spring is about to begin.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
今岁今宵尽
jīn suì jīn xiāo jǐn
明年明日催
míng nián míng rì cuī
寒随一夜去
hán suí yī yè qù
春逐五更来
chūn zhú wǔ gēng lái
Simplified characters; traditional title: 應詔賦得除夜. This is a long poem; only the best-known lines are shown, and “……” marks omitted passages.
Note on the text: This page presents a well-known excerpt; the full poem is longer in the traditional corpus.
English translation
This year ends with this very night;
next year, tomorrow, comes hurrying on.
The cold leaves with this one night;
spring follows at the fifth watch.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
New Year's Eve: the old year ends and spring is about to begin. The scene stays with you.
Background
New Year's Eve: the old year ends and spring is about to begin.
Key words
- 今岁 jīn suì
- this year
- 今宵 jīn xiāo
- this night; tonight
- 明年 míng nián
- next year
About the poet: Shi Qing
Shi Qing is known for a New Year's Eve poem on an imperial theme.
Lifetime: fl. late 7th c.. Other famous works: New Year's Eve (应诏赋得除夜).