Home › Poems › Lotus-Picking Song
Cǎi Lián QūLotus-Picking Song 采莲曲
Wang Changling: lotus pickers blend into the lotus until you hear them sing.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
荷叶罗裙一色裁
hé yè luó qún yī sè cái
芙蓉向脸两边开
fú róng xiàng liǎn liǎng biān kāi
乱入池中看不见
luàn rù chí zhōng kàn bú jiàn
闻歌始觉有人来
wén gē shǐ jué yǒu rén lái
Simplified characters; traditional title: 採蓮曲.
English translation
Lotus leaves and her silk skirt, cut from the same green;
lotus flowers open on either side of her face.
She slips into the pond and vanishes from view —
only hearing the song do you know someone is there.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Wang Changling: lotus pickers blend into the lotus until you hear them sing. The scene stays with you.
Background
Wang Changling: lotus pickers blend into the lotus until you hear them sing.
Key words
- 荷叶 hé yè
- lotus leaves
- 罗裙 luó qún
- a gauze skirt; silk skirt
- 一色 yī sè
- one color; of a single hue
About the poet: Wang Changling
Wang Changling was called the "Master of the Seven-Character Quatrain." His frontier poems about soldiers and border fortresses, and his poems of farewell, are among the most anthologized of the Tang.
Lifetime: c. 698–756. Other famous works: Out to the Frontier (出塞); Farewell to Xin Jian at Hibiscus Tower (芙蓉楼送辛渐); Lotus-Picking Song (采莲曲); Seeing Off Censor Chai (送柴侍御).