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Xiǎo SōngLittle Pine 小松

Du Xunhe (杜荀鹤, also known as Tu Hsün-ho)｜Late Tang｜seven-character quatrain

Du Xunhe on a young pine: no one can see a giant in a sapling.

Original Chinese text with pinyin

自小刺头深草里
zì xiǎo cì tóu shēn cǎo lǐ

而今渐觉出蓬蒿
ér jīn jiàn jué chū péng hāo

时人不识凌云木
shí rén bù shí líng yún mù

直待凌云始道高
zhí dài líng yún shǐ dào gāo

Simplified characters; traditional title: 小松.

From small, a prickly head deep in the grass,

now it is slowly rising above the weeds.

People don't recognise a tree that will touch the clouds —

not until it touches the clouds do they call it tall.

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

自小刺头深草里 · zì xiǎo cì tóu shēn cǎo lǐ — From small, a prickly head deep in the grass,

而今渐觉出蓬蒿 · ér jīn jiàn jué chū péng hāo — now it is slowly rising above the weeds.

时人不识凌云木 · shí rén bù shí líng yún mù — People don't recognise a tree that will touch the clouds —

直待凌云始道高 · zhí dài líng yún shǐ dào gāo — not until it touches the clouds do they call it tall.

Du Xunhe on a young pine: no one can see a giant in a sapling. The scene stays with you.

Du Xunhe on a young pine: no one can see a giant in a sapling.

Du Xunhe often aimed verse at social wrongs.

Lifetime: 846–904. Other famous works: Little Pine (小松).