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Cǎi Sāng ZiPicking Mulberries 采桑子

Ouyang Xiu (欧阳修, also known as Zuiweng)｜Northern Song｜ci (song lyric)

Ouyang Xiu boating on West Lake among green water, grass and music.

Original Chinese text with pinyin

轻舟短棹西湖好
qīng zhōu duǎn zhào xī hú hǎo

绿水逶迤
lǜ shuǐ wēi yí

芳草长堤
fāng cǎo zhǎng dī

隐隐笙歌处处随
yǐn yǐn shēng gē chù chù suí

Simplified characters; traditional title: 採桑子. 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.

A light boat with short oars — West Lake is lovely;

green water winding,

fragrant grass along the long dike,

faint songs of reed pipes following everywhere.

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

轻舟短棹西湖好 · qīng zhōu duǎn zhào xī hú hǎo — A light boat with short oars — West Lake is lovely;

绿水逶迤 · lǜ shuǐ wēi yí — green water winding,

芳草长堤 · fāng cǎo zhǎng dī — fragrant grass along the long dike,

隐隐笙歌处处随 · yǐn yǐn shēng gē chù chù suí — faint songs of reed pipes following everywhere.

Ouyang Xiu boating on West Lake among green water, grass and music. The scene stays with you.

Ouyang Xiu boating on West Lake among green water, grass and music.

Ouyang Xiu led the Northern Song classical-prose revival and left accomplished poetry and ci.

Lifetime: 1007–1072. Other famous works: The Thrush (画眉鸟); Spring Outing at Fengle Pavilion (丰乐亭游春); Picking Mulberries (采桑子).