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Water Dragon Tune: Asking Spring

By Chao Buzhi Song Dynasty

English Poetic Translation

Why must spring hasten so, a frantic rush through wind and driven rain?
Deep buds and delicate calyxes in the low-railed garden, still waiting for the gardener's care.
All the lavish red is blown away; to hold spring long, it cannot match the weeping willow.
We say spring never ages, yet mortals mourn its passing—this sorrow lives only in the human heart.
Eight or nine out of ten, spring brings regret.
How can one lightly let sweet wine pass untouched?
Yet little do we know, peach blossoms simply form their fruit, not wasting away because of spring.
Worldly fame and merit taste different as age draws on, right at the hour of spring's return.
Though before the wine goblet I drink deep and sing wildly as before, my heart can never be the same.

Classical Chinese & Pinyin

問春何苦匆匆，帶風伴雨如馳驟。
幽葩細萼，小園低檻，壅培未就。
吹盡繁紅，佔春長久，不如垂柳。
算春常不老，人愁春老，愁只是、人間有。
春恨十常八九。
忍輕辜、芳醪經口。
那知自是，桃花結子，不因春瘦。
世上功名，老來風味，春歸時候。
縱樽前痛飲，狂歌似舊，情難依舊。

wèn chūn hé kǔ cōng cōng, dài fēng bàn yǔ rú chí zhòu.
yōu pā xì è, xiǎo yuán dī jiàn, yōng péi wèi jiù.
chuī jìn fán hóng, zhàn chūn cháng jiǔ, bù rú chuí liǔ.
suàn chūn cháng bù lǎo, rén chóu chūn lǎo, chóu zhǐ shì, rén jiān yǒu.
chūn hèn shí cháng bā jiǔ.
rěn qīng gū, fāng láo jīng kǒu.
nǎ zhī zì shì, táo huā jié zǐ, bù yīn chūn shòu.
shì shàng gōng míng, lǎo lái fēng wèi, chūn guī shí hòu.
zòng zūn qián tòng yǐn, kuáng gē sì jiù, qíng nán yī jiù.

Philological Direct Translation

Asking spring why bitterness hurried-hurried, bearing wind accompanying rain like galloping charge.
Secluded buds fine calyxes, small garden low railings, heaping earth not yet completed.
Blown away completely luxuriant crimson, occupying spring long lasting, not as good as drooping willows.
Calculating spring constantly not old, human beings grieve spring aging, grief only is, human world possesses.
Spring hatred ten often eight nine.
How to bear lightly neglecting, fragrant wine passing mouth.
How to know naturally this is, peach blossoms forming seeds, not because of spring emaciated.
In the world achievements and fame, aging coming flavor, spring returning moment.
Even though before wine goblet bitter drinking, mad singing like old times, emotion difficult to be like old times.

Scholarly Exegesis & Cultural Commentary

I. Formal Poetic Architecture & Meter

This ci lyric is composed to the tune title "Water Dragon Chant" (Shui long yin), a double-stanza form featuring a complex metric structure with mixed line lengths and frequent shifting of rhymes. The poem follows the standard Song dynasty pattern for this tune, deploying alternating 3-character, 4-character, 5-character, and 7-character phrases that create an undulating, breathless rhythm mimicking the hurried departure of spring. The rhyme scheme shifts fluidly across the stanzas, utilizing level-tone rhyme words that emphasize lament and longing. Architecturally, the first stanza establishes the external observation of fleeting spring and shifts inward to human sorrow, while the second stanza transitions from existential philosophical inquiry regarding aging and sorrow to a poignant realization of emotional desolation amid persistent social obligations.

II. Historical Chronology & Existential Impulse

Chao Buzhi (1053–1110) was a prominent literary figure and one of the "Four Scholars of the Su Shi School." Living during the tumultuous political factionalism of the Northern Song dynasty, Chao suffered repeated demotions and political exiles due to his association with Su Shi. This lyric reflects the mature, melancholic introspection of a literatus displaced from courtly center stage, aging in provincial obscurity. The existential impulse of the poem arises from the agonizing juxtaposition between indifferent natural cycles—where spring returns eternally and peach trees naturally bear fruit regardless of human grief—and the irreversible, linear decline of human youth, career ambition, and emotional capacity.

III. Line-by-Line Exegesis & Allusion Decoding

Lines 1-5 (Opening Couplet & Setting): Asking spring why it hurries so frantically, accompanied by driving wind and rain like rushing horses. In the small garden by the low railing, the delicate flower buds and tiny calyxes have not yet been fully tended or mended. Chao personifies spring as a fugitive fleeing in terror, establishing a frantic, anxious tone from the very first line.
Lines 6-10 (Transition & Philosophical Pivot): Having blown away all the luxuriant crimson blossoms, one might think the weeping willow occupies spring longer, yet it too fades. Calculating that spring itself never truly ages, human beings simply fret over the aging of spring; the sorrow exists entirely within the human realm. Ten out of eight or nine matters concerning spring are filled with resentment.
Lines 11-15 (Second Stanza Opening & Self-Realization): How can one bear to lightly fail the fragrant wine passing one's lips? Little did I realize that it is simply the peach tree's natural course to form its fruit, and it does not grow thin or withered out of grief for the departing spring. The poet realizes that nature operates on biological necessity rather than emotional sympathy.
Lines 16-20 (Closing Couplet): Worldly achievements and fame, the seasoned flavor of old age, all coincide with the time when spring returns. Even if I were to drink deeply before the wine cup and sing wildly as I did in the past, my emotional state can no longer remain what it used to be. The poem concludes on an elegiac note of irrecoverable passion and disillusionment with official ambition.

IV. Aesthetic Synthesis & Poetic Aftertaste

Chao Buzhi's "Shui long yin" stands as a masterwork of Northern Song psychological lyricism, bridging the gap between external landscape description and deep internal existential lament. By stripping spring of its traditional romantic sentimentality and recasting it through the lens of cold biological inevitability and human political disillusionment, the poet achieves a profound resonance. The lingering aftertaste is one of poignant resignation: while wine and wild songs may be summoned out of habit, the inner vitality of youth is forever gone, leaving the scholar stranded in the autumn of his life.