A Little Pond
Song dynasty・Yang Wanli
Classical Chinese-style Ballad
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The young lotus has barely shown its pointed tip, yet already a dragonfly rests upon it.
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- 无事小狗仙
- 2025-07-15 22:22
- 69 reads
The spring's eye silently cherishes its slender flow, tree shade reflected in the water loves the gentle sunshine.
A young lotus leaf has barely shown its pointed tip，and already a dragonfly has alighted there.
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Translation
A spring quietly releases a slender stream, as though reluctant to let even a little more water go; the shade of trees reflected in it seems to cherish the gentle light of a sunny day. A small lotus leaf has only just shown its pointed tip, yet a dragonfly has already alighted upon it.
Annotations
泉眼: the opening from which spring water emerges. 惜: to cherish, personifying the spring here. 照水: reflected on the water’s surface. 晴柔: the gentle scenery of a clear day.
小荷: a newly grown lotus leaf that has not yet fully unfurled, rather than an open lotus blossom. 尖尖角: the pointed tip of the furled young leaf. 上头: on top.
Introduction
Reading guide: Yang Wanli makes a complete world from the tiniest sights beside a pond. The spring's flow, tree shade, young lotus leaves, and a dragonfly appear one by one, inviting close observation; the title's “small” is reflected in the scale of that attention.
Commentary
In the first two lines, “惜” (“cherish”) and “爱” (“love”) give nature a tender affection, keeping the still scene from feeling desolate. The last two lines capture a moment in growth: the lotus leaf has yet to unfurl, but a dragonfly has already arrived.
“才,” “only just,” and “早有,” “already there,” form a light temporal echo, lending freshness to a tiny change. The poem needs no grand scenery: close attention to everyday life is enough to reveal vitality.
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First Light on Young Lotuses
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Fiction inspired by poetry
A Young Lotus Conceals Its Edge
When the bronze key used to open the irrigation channel goes missing, the upper and lower villages quarrel all the way to the well. The late-planted rice seedlings cannot wait three days. A-Jian’s father lives in the lower village, her maternal grandfather in the upper. The adults tell her to stay out of it, so she returns to the little pond she knows so well. After a rainless night, the first lotus leaf has tilted. When a blue-tailed dragonfly lands, a fine hemp thread beneath the water sinks with it. A-Jian picks up a grass stem to hook the thread that should not be there.
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