Home › Poems › The Pond Behind Qi'an
Qí Ān Jùn Hòu Chí Jué JùThe Pond Behind Qi'an 齐安郡后池绝句
Du Mu on a summer pond: water chestnut leaves, orioles, mandarin ducks in drizzle.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
菱透浮萍绿锦池
líng tòu fú píng lǜ jǐn chí
夏莺千啭弄蔷薇
xià yīng qiān zhuàn nòng qiáng wēi
尽日无人看微雨
jǐn rì wú rén kàn wēi yǔ
鸳鸯相对浴红衣
yuān yāng xiāng duì yù hóng yī
Simplified characters; traditional title: 齊安郡後池絕句.
English translation
Water chestnuts push through duckweed on the green brocade pond;
summer orioles trill a thousand times among the roses.
All day no one watches the fine rain;
a pair of mandarin ducks bathe face to face in red plumage.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Du Mu on a summer pond: water chestnut leaves, orioles, mandarin ducks in drizzle. The scene stays with you.
Background
Du Mu on a summer pond: water chestnut leaves, orioles, mandarin ducks in drizzle.
Key words
- 夏莺千啭 xià yīng qiān zhuàn
- summer orioles in a thousand trills
- 菱透 líng tòu
- water chestnuts showing through
- 浮萍 fú píng
- floating duckweed
About the poet: Du Mu
Du Mu, grandson of a chief minister, was an official and a stylish writer of quatrains. With Li Shangyin he is known as one of the "Little Li and Du" of the late Tang, prized for vivid scenes tinged with history and melancholy.
Lifetime: 803–852. Other famous works: Written at the Wujiang Pavilion (题乌江亭); Passing Huaqing Palace (过华清宫); Qingming (清明); Spring in Jiangnan (江南春); Mooring on the Qinhuai River (泊秦淮); Mountain Walk (山行); Autumn View in Chang'an (长安秋望); For Han Chuo in Yangzhou (寄扬州韩绰判官); The Pond Behind Qi'an (齐安郡后池绝句); Autumn Evening (秋夕).
More by Du Mu
- Mountain Walk山行
- Qingming清明
- Spring in Jiangnan江南春
- Mooring on the Qinhuai River泊秦淮
- Written at the Wujiang Pavilion题乌江亭
- Passing Huaqing Palace过华清宫
- Autumn View in Chang'an长安秋望
- For Han Chuo in Yangzhou寄扬州韩绰判官