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Yè Yǔ Jì BěiNight Rain: Sent North 夜雨寄北
Li Shangyin imagines talking about tonight's rain in the future.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
君问归期未有期
jūn wèn guī qī wèi yǒu qī
巴山夜雨涨秋池
bā shān yè yǔ zhǎng qiū chí
何当共剪西窗烛
hé dāng gòng jiǎn xī chuāng zhú
却话巴山夜雨时
què huà bā shān yè yǔ shí
Simplified characters; traditional title: 夜雨寄北.
English translation
You ask me when I am coming. I do not know.
I dream of your mountains and autumn pools brimming all night with the rain.
Oh, when shall we be trimming wicks again, together in your western window?
When shall I be hearing your voice again, all night in the rain?
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
The poem has a remarkable time structure. The present (rain in the mountains) is seen from an imagined future, when the couple will sit by the candle and remember it. "Night rain in the Ba Mountains" appears twice, once as a lonely fact and once as a shared memory. Loneliness becomes something to look forward to telling.
Background
Written around 851 when Li Shangyin was serving in Sichuan (Ba). It was sent north to his wife — or, some say, a friend — in Chang'an.
Key words
- 巴山 Bā Shān
- the Ba Mountains in Sichuan
- 何当 hé dāng
- when will
- 剪烛 jiǎn zhú
- to trim the candlewick
About the poet: Li Shangyin
Li Shangyin wrote dense, allusive and beautiful poems, many of them untitled love poems whose meaning is still debated. Caught between court factions, he never rose high in office.
Lifetime: c. 813–858. Other famous works: Night Rain: Sent North (夜雨寄北); Climbing Leyou Plain (登乐游原); Untitled (Hard Is the Meeting) (无题); The Ornate Zither (锦瑟).