LISTEN TO THE TEXTLISTEN TO SHIRLEY PLAY & SING THE POEM

I am sure that most people enjoy seeing little yellow birds in the trees and listening to their beautiful songs from among the green leaves. Anyway, in the little Chinese classical poem Chun Yuan -- Sadness in the Spring by Tang Dynasty (A.D.618 -907) poet Jin Changxu, things are totally different. :-)

A young lady was driving the yellow birds from a tree, she did not want them to sing on the branches because their songs had awakened her and so she could no longer see her husband/lover in her dream...

I do enjoy this little poem for its great use of language, in just 20 words it offers us an interesting scene with sounds, a character, birds, a tree, and also something about the psychology of the young lady...   

That is why I quickly wrote a piece of music to go with it and I hope that you enjoy it... :-)

I do hope that my commentary, music and the language explanation will be a little help to you in learning more about Chinese culture and in improving your Chinese language level... :-)



MAIN MEANING OF THE POEMLISTEN TO SHIRLEY PLAY & SING THE POEM

Sadness in the Spring

By Jin Changxu

Tang Dynasty ( A.D.618 -907)

Drive away the yellow bird from the tree,
Do not let her sing on the branch..
Her songs have woken up me,
So that I could not dream of my husband/lover
in Liao Xi...

Attaching a Translation By Hundred Flower Publishing House:

A Spring Vexation

I hit an oriole with a piece of stone,
To stop its crying on a bough alone,
For its cries will awake me from my dream
That I can't travel to north frontier stream.


NEW WORDS AND RONUNCIATION :

Please click on any Chinese character that you need help with, to see its Chinese pinyin, pronunciation and meaning, and then follow me to read it.

CHINESE CHARACTERS:

春怨

金昌绪   （唐）

打起黄莺儿，
莫叫枝上啼。
啼时惊妾梦，
不得到辽西。

LISTEN TO SHIRLEY PLAY & SING THE POEM

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please write to shirley@ebridge.cn, or shirleyz004@yahoo.com, You are also welcome to publish your opinions in Forum For Friends.
--Shirley
Written, Sung, Translated and Recorded on Sun, Nov 5, 2006