The evening river is level and motionless -- The spring colours just open to their full. Suddenly a wave carries the moon1 away And the tidal water comes with its freight of stars.
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View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, Translated by Arthur Waley, London, Constable and Company Ltd., 1918, page 92.
Note: the Chinese poet is identified as "Yang-ti (605-617), emperor of the Sui dynasty"; the dates are for his reign.
1 note from the poem's published version: "i.e., the
reflection in the water."
Authorship:
- by Arthur Waley (1889 - 1969), "Flowers and moonlight on the spring river", first published 1918 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Emperor Yang of Sui (569 - 618) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "Flowers and moonlight", 195-? [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2013-12-03
Line count: 4
Word count: 32