西江月. 照野弥弥浅浪 The Moon Brightens the Murmuring Shallow Stream

西江月. 照野弥弥浅浪

( 顷在黄州，春夜行蕲水中，过酒家饮。酒醉，乘月至一溪桥上，解鞍曲肱，醉卧少休。及觉已晓，乱山攒拥，流水锵然，疑非尘世也。书此语桥柱上。)

原作：苏轼（ 11th Century）

照野弥弥浅浪,

横空隐隐层霄。

障泥未解玉骢骄,

我醉欲眠芳草。

可惜一溪明月，

莫教踏碎琼瑶。

解鞍欹枕绿杨桥，

杜宇一声春晓。

The moon stirs the river into a soft melody

-       to the tune “The Moon on West River”

(Intro: This was composed during my spring outing on horseback from Huangzhou to Qishui Town. After a few drinks at a local tavern, I felt tipsy as I reached a bridge under a bright moon. I unsaddled the horse and lay by the bridge for a nap. I woke at dawn to the murmuring spring river winding from a distant mountain range to nearby rolling hills – a dream world of serene beauty. Hence, I wrote this poem on a baluster of the bridge.)

Chinese original: Su Shi ( 11^th AC)

English version: Julia Min (2022)

The moon stirs the river into a soft melody.

The sky grows dim, veiled in the thinnest mist.

Too tipsy to loosen the saddle of my steed,

I long for a bed of grass by the sandy stream.

The river gleams, cradling a fallen moon；

I can’t bear to see it erased by passing tread.

Unsaddled, he rests with me at Willow Bridge

till dawn, a cuckoo wakes me to the spring stream.

Appreciation:

This Ci was composed in March 1082, Su Shi’s third spring in Huangzhou. He was riding along the Orchard River (today’s Xi River in Xishui County, not far from Huangzhou, Hubei). I’m quite familiar with the place, as it is my birthplace, where I cherish many childhood memories (1968-82). The bridge, now called the Old Bridge, was on my way to my primary and middle schools on the temple side. I can still picture it, built with rammed earth on a wooden structure with wooden tiers, deep into the fast-running sand river, which was about 150-200 metres wide, exposing a wide sandy beach on the temple side in the dry seasons. We also practised school military training there in the summer. The other side of the river was less sandy, usually covered with wild flowers. I used to collect them after school. There was no cement, no bridge railing on either side, and there were many holes. As children, we used to jump over them for fun, totally ignorant that it was a dangerous bridge, on the brink of collapse after many years of neglect.

The landscape in Su Shi’s time must have been far more pristine, with few buildings to interrupt the river’s open sweep. One can imagine him visiting the nearby temple, riding along the riverbanks and pausing at a roadside tavern for a few cups of local wine. Tipsy and unhurried, he likely lay down by the bridge for a brief rest—only to find that the moment invited something deeper: a surrender to the night itself.

The poem suggests a timeless suspension, a desire to step outside the pressures of official life and yield to the slow, self-sufficient rhythms of nature. This impulse is quietly expressed in his decision to restrain his horse’s restless energy and lie down in the lush grass rather than press on. Here, a Daoist spirit is strongly felt—an aspiration toward harmony with ziran (自然), a return to the maternal embrace of the natural world.

Notes:

1. Willow Bridge; The site lies east of present-day Xishui County, Hubei Province. A modern bridge now stands beside the old ruins. The location is approximately half a mile from Clear Stream Temple, where Su Shi composed another celebrated work, “A Visit to Clear Stream Temple by the Orchard River Flowing East.”

2. Cuckoos: In Chinese tradition, the cuckoo’s springtime cry is closely associated with homesickness and longing, especially in the heart of a weary traveler—an undertone that quietly deepens the poem’s serenity with emotional resonance.

Reference:

1. Blooming Alone in Winter by Gordon Osing, Julia Min and Huang Haipeng，published by the People's Publication House Henan Province in 1990 (《寒心未肯随春态》戈登.奥赛茵，闵晓红，黄海鹏)（The moon brightens the wild murmurings of a shallow stream;/a haziness in the sky might be the thinnest clouds./Ok as is,/But I’m drunk and want to lie down in rich grasses. // They’re lovely, the full stream and the white moon./I can’t let him trample to pieces of broken jade all this./I’ll unsaddle him here, rest my head on Green Willow Bridge,/Till cuckoo wakes me and it’s already a Spring dawn.）

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