Autumn grass grows by the winding corridor and distant steps; my dreaming soul travels a thousand miles along the road to Green Gate.

无事小狗仙
2025-09-05 11:35
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Pusa Man · Autumn Grass Grows by Distant Steps along the Covered Walkway

Five Dynasties・Feng Yansi

回廊远砌生秋草，梦魂千里青门道。鹦鹉怨长更，碧笼金锁横。— Autumn grass grows along the winding corridor and distant steps; my dreaming soul travels a thousand miles to the road by the Green Gate. The parrot complains through the long night watches, a golden lock fastened across its green cage.

Within silken curtains I rise at midnight, the frosty moonlight clear as water. Jade dew cannot form a perfect round, the precious zither mourns with broken strings.

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Translation

Autumn grass grows beside the steps at the far end of the corridor; my dreaming soul follows the road beyond Qingmen for a thousand li. Even the parrot seems to complain of the long night, a gold lock fastened across its emerald cage. At midnight I rise from the gauze curtains and see frosty moonlight clear as water. Before the sparkling dewdrops have rounded, the strings of the jeweled zheng snap amid their mournful notes.

Annotations

砌: steps. 青门: originally Chang'an's eastern gate, later used more broadly for city gates and roads of farewell. 长更: a long night. 碧笼金锁: an exquisite birdcage, locked shut.

罗帏: silken bed curtains. 霜月: moonlight clear and cold as frost. 玉露: crystalline dew. “不成圆,” not forming a round shape, also readily suggests the inability to reunite.

宝筝: an exquisitely decorated zheng zither. 断弦: broken strings, primarily an image of mournful music here; these two characters alone do not establish that the poem concerns bereavement of a spouse.

Introduction

Reading guide: Feng Yansi portrays late-night longing for someone far away by contrasting the roaming dream-soul with a locked birdcage. The figure in the lyric longs to cross space and meet the beloved, yet nearby curtains, golden locks, and the long night repeatedly bring them back to reality.

Commentary

Grass growing in the covered corridor conveys the desolation of a place long untrodden, while the road to Qingmen in the dream stretches a thousand miles. The opening two lines establish tension between the still dwelling and the heart traveling far away.

The second stanza moves from dreaming to waking. The moonlight is clear, yet cannot dispel grief. Dew that has not rounded into drops and a broken string appear in succession, allowing objects to reveal the feelings of a reunion unfulfilled and emotions that cannot be sustained, without explaining each in turn.

Comments

From a poem into a story

Fiction inspired by poetry

Ancient Chinese–Style Mystery

Autumn Whispers in a Green Cage

A parrot with a bald tail suddenly repeats the words A-Qing’s elder sister once used to coax her into drinking porridge, and every birdcage in her hands falls to the ground. Six years ago, her sister left to marry. Her husband’s family said only that she and her dowry had disappeared on the way; there had been no news since. The bird’s delivery tag leads to the secluded Zhou residence. Autumn grass pushes through the brickwork, and a zheng sounds behind a window. A-Qing calls out to her sister, and the woman behind the curtain raises her head.

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Autumn grass grows by the winding corridor and distant steps; my dreaming soul travels a thousand miles along the road to Green Gate.

Pusa Man · Autumn Grass Grows by Distant Steps along the Covered Walkway