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To the Tune of Congratulating the New Bride: Waking from Sleep

By Ye Mengde Song Dynasty

English Poetic Translation

Awakening from sleep, a lone warbler calls.
The moss grows green as evening veils the lattice, and scattered petals fall.
No one beholds the last blooms blown away,
Only the weeping willows dance and sway.
A gentle warmth portends the summer's birth;
Once more I seek the jeweled fan of moonlit worth,
Though dust invades, the fairy maid rides high.
Old sorrows start—how swiftly they draw nigh.
My dream of southern realms across the river dies;
The racing waves touch sky, and emerald waters rise,
Lost deep in misty rain.
Before the tower, boundless ripples call of pain;
Who gathers duckweed flowers to send across the foam?
I gaze in longing where the orchid boats delay.
When will the cloud-sped sail return for home?
I watch the single swan until my vision blurs and mountains bar the way.
Ah, who will sing the Golden Threads for me today?

Classical Chinese & Pinyin

睡起啼鶯語。
掩青苔、房櫳向晚，亂紅無數。
吹盡殘花無人見，惟有垂楊自舞。
漸暖靄、初回輕暑。
寶扇重尋明月影，暗塵侵、尚有乘鸞女。
驚舊恨，遽如許。
江南夢斷橫江渚。
浪黏天、葡萄漲綠，半空煙雨。
無限樓前滄波意，誰採蘋花寄取。
但悵望、蘭舟容與。
萬里雲帆何時到，送孤鴻、目斷千山阻。
誰爲我，唱金縷。

shuì qǐ tí yīng yǔ.
yǎn qīng tái, fáng lóng xiàng wǎn, luàn hóng wú shù.
chuī jìn cán huā wú rén jiàn, wéi yǒu chuí yáng zì wǔ.
jiàn nuǎn ǎi, chū huí qīng shǔ.
bǎo shàn chóng xún míng yuè yǐng, àn chén qīn, shàng yǒu chéng luán nǚ.
jīng jiù hèn, jù rú xǔ.
jiāng nán mèng duàn héng jiāng zhǔ.
làng nián tiān, pú táo zhǎng lǜ, bàn kōng yān yǔ.
wú xiàn lóu qián cāng bō yì, shuí cǎi píng huā jì qǔ.
dàn chàng wàng, lán zhōu róng yǔ.
wàn lǐ yún fān hé shí dào, sòng gū hóng, mù duàn qiān shān zǔ.
shuí wèi wǒ, chàng jīn lǚ.

Philological Direct Translation

Sleep waking crying warbler speaks.
Cover green moss, chamber lattice toward evening, scattered red countless.
Blow exhaust remaining flower no person sees, only has drooping willow self dances.
Gradually warm mist, first returns light summer.
Treasure fan heavy seeks bright moon shadow, dark dust invades, still has riding Luan female.
Startled old regret, suddenly so much.
Jiangnan dream broken cross river islet.
Wave sticks sky, grape swells green, half air mist rain.
Infinite tower before dark wave meaning, who picks duckweed flower send fetch.
Only melancholy gaze, orchid boat hesitating.
Myriad mile cloud sail when time arrives, send solitary swan, eye broken thousand mountains blocked.
Who for me, sings golden threads.

Scholarly Exegesis & Cultural Commentary

I. Formal Poetic Architecture & Meter

This lyric is composed to the celebrated Song Ci tune pattern titled Congratulating the New Bride. The tune is characterized by an extended length, featuring a complex interplay of short, staccato exclamations and expansive, flowing long lines that mirror the fluctuation of inner emotional states. The metric structure demands intricate tonal shifts, alternating between level and oblique tones to create an undulating acoustic rhythm that mimics the rolling waves and the cadence of sighing breath. The architecture relies heavily on internal contrasts, shifting abruptly from intimate domestic enclosure to vast, desolate river landscapes across the medial stanzaic breaks.

II. Historical Chronology & Existential Impulse

Written during the turbulent transitional era of the Northern to Southern Song dynasties, the poet Ye Mengde captures the poignant displacement and existential melancholy characteristic of scholarly elites navigating an empire under severe military and political stress. Living through a period of regional fragmentation, loss of the northern capitals, and frequent administrative demotions, the poet projects his profound sense of political dislocation and personal isolation onto the vernal landscape of the southern riverlands, transforming natural imagery into an acute register of historical grief.

III. Line-by-Line Exegesis & Allusion Decoding

The poem follows a psychological trajectory from drowsy domestic stillness to an overwhelming panorama of distant grief.

Lines 1-2 (Opening Couplet): Line 1 ("Awakening from sleep, a lone warbler calls") establishes a jarring sensory awakening, quickly anchored by Line 2 ("The moss grows green as evening veils the lattice") which creates an atmosphere of stagnant seclusion and neglected beauty.
Lines 3-4 (First Antithetical Turn): Line 3 ("No one beholds the last blooms blown away") introduces the motif of unremarked decay, contrasted sharply in Line 4 ("Only the weeping willows dance and sway") by mindless natural vitality indifferent to human sorrow.
Lines 5-6 (Second Antithetical Turn / Climax): Line 5 ("A gentle warmth portends the summer's birth") shifts the seasonal register, while Line 6 ("Once more I seek the jeweled fan of moonlit worth") deploys a classic Han dynasty palace-seclusion trope to signify abandonment and fading imperial favor.
Closing Lines (Resolving Couplet): The final lines ("When will the cloud-sped sail return for home?") expand the horizon to vast geographical barriers, concluding with an intimate, plaintive query regarding empathetic resonance in a lonely exile.

IV. Cultural Symbolism & Key Metaphors

The poem is rich in traditional classical topoi that encode specific psychological states for the literati reader.

Willows and Falling Petals: These represent the relentless passage of time, ephemeral youth, and the sorrow of parting or displacement.
The Jade Fan and Moon: Alluding to the lament of abandoned consorts, the fan symbolizes neglected talent, waning imperial patronage, and cold loneliness in the domestic sphere.
The Solitary Swan and Distant Sails: Universal emblems of the lonely traveler cut off from kin, homeland, and political purpose by impassable geographical and political divides.

V. Philosophical Core & Global Resonance

The philosophical underpinning of the lyric synthesizes Confucian engagement with public duty and tragic displacement with Daoist surrender to the immensity of the natural cosmos. The poet's intense sorrow is mediated through an objective contemplation of the indifferent landscape, achieving a universal aesthetic transcendence. Across centuries, the poem resonates with any reader who has experienced the painful disjuncture between personal memory and the vast, unyielding currents of time and history.