Of marsh-mallows my boat is made, The ropes are lily-roots. The pole-star is athwart the sky: The moon sinks low. It's at the ferry I'm plucking lilies, But it might be the Yellow River — So afraid you seem of the wind and waves, So long you tarry at the crossing.
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Confirmed with A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems. Translated by Arthur Waley, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1922. Note: above the poem, Waley indicates the original Chinese was written by "the Emperor Ch'ien Wēn-ti, of the Liang dynasty, who reigned during the year A. D. 500"; however, Emperor Jianwen was not yet born in that year so the poem may be by his father, Emperor Wu, who was also a poet and reigned in that year. The English translation has the following note, which is reproduced in Phyllis Campbell's score:
A lady is waiting for her lover at the ferry which crosses a small stream. When he does not come, she bitterly suggests that he is as afraid of the little stream as though it were the Yellow River, the largest river in China.
Text Authorship:
- by Arthur Waley (1889 - 1969), "The Ferry" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) possibly by Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty (464 - 549) [text unavailable] and possibly by Emperor Jianwen of Liang (503 - 551) [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 Phyllis Campbell (1891 - 1974), "The Ferry", published 2018 [ voice and piano ], from Poems from the Chinese, no. 2, Wirripang Pty Ltd. [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2025-04-19
Line count: 8
Word count: 51