春夜喜雨 chūn yè xǐ
yǔ 28
translations
好雨知時節 Hǎo
yǔ zhī shí jié, tzet r
r L L e
當春乃發生 Dāng
chūn nǎi fā shēng. shræng L L r e L
隨風潛入夜 Suí fēng qián rù yè, ià L
L L e d
潤物細無聲 Rùn wù xì wú
shēng. shiɛng d e d L L
野徑雲俱黑 Yě
jìng yún jù hēi, xək r d L L e
江船火獨明 Jiāng
chuán huǒ dú míng. miæng L L r e L
曉看紅濕處 Xiǎo
kàn hóng shī chù, chiù r L L e r
花重錦官城 Huā
zhòng jǐn guān chéng. zhiɛng L
d r L L
Rhyme ABCBDBEB (see
Stimson, Hugh M. T'ang Poetic
Vocabulary (New Haven: Far Eastern Publications, Yale University, 1976), p. ix)
unknown (titohost.itbdns.com/chinese-poet/chinese%20poem-1/1-8l5w.htm) (literal)
Nice Rain in Spring Night
Nice rain know season
Become spring exactly appear
Follow wind infiltrate night
Moisten thing fine & lack sound
Field path& cloud both dark
River ship fire solitarily bright
Dawn see red wet place
Flower piled-up Jinguan city
Alley, Rewi
Tu Fu: Selected Poems (Peking:
Foreign Languages Press, 1964)
Good Rain on a Spring Night
A good rain falling
Just when it should
In springtime; riding
On the wind it fills
A whole night, soaking
The land with its goodness;
Clouds hang heavily over
Country paths; a lone light
Shines from a passing boat;
Morning and I see a damp
Redness on the branches,
Laden down with flowers.
Ayscough,
Spring Night, Happy Rain
Happy rain knows time and season;
Should come in Spring, cause life to rise.
Borne on wind, secretly it enters night;
Soaks all growing things, is fine without sound.
On path in outskirts, clouds all black;
On boat in river, light shines lone.
At dawn see places where vermilion blooms are wet,
Flowers hang heavy in
Brownrigg, Ray (www.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/~ray/ChineseEssays)
Spring
Nights Welcome Rain
Good rain knows its best time;
Come spring
and it is there.
On breeze with night-time stealth;
Soaks all with quiet care.
Walkways are dark with cloud;
Bark light shines all the more.
Dawn breaks
all red and wet;
Blooms fill
the city fair.
Cranmer-Byng, L. A Lute of Jade <cranmer-byng.thefreelibrary.com/Lute-of-Jade>
The Little Rain
Oh, she is good, the little rain! And well she knows our need
Who cometh in the time of spring to aid the sun-drawn seed;
She wanders with a friendly wind through silent nights unseen,
The furrows feel her happy tears, and lo! The land is green.
Last night cloud shadows gloomed the path that winds to my abode,
And the torches of the river-boats like angry meteors glowed.
Today fresh colors break the soil, and butterflies take wing
Down broidered lawns all bright with pearls in the garden of the King.
An Evening Shower in Spring
See how the gently falling rain
Its vernal influence sweetly showers;
As through the calm and tepid eve,
It silently bedews the flowers.
Cloudy and dark the horizon spreads,
Save where some boat its light is burning;
But soon the landscape's tints shall glow
All radiant with the morn's returning.
“Dongbo”(www.mountainsongs.net/poem_.php?id=202)
Spring Night Light Rain
Good rain knows its season,
Only when spring comes does it happen!
Following the wind it steals into the night,
Moistening all things without a sound.
Country paths misty and dark,
River boat torches the only light.
At dawn everything moist and rosy,
Flowers droop in
Fletcher, W. J. B. (www.poetic.com.cn/go.asp?id=22708&ttt=)
The Kindly Rain
The kindly rain its proper season knows.
With gentle Spring aye born in fitting hour.
Along the Wind with cloaking Night it goes.
Enmoistening, fine, inaudible it flows.
The clouds the mountain paths in darkness hide.
And lonely bright the vessels’ lanterns glower.
Dawn shows how damp the blushing buds divide,
And flowers droop head-heavy in each bower.
Hart, Henry H. The Charcoal Burner, and Other Poems; Original Translations from the Poetry of the Chinese (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1974)
The Goodly Rain
The goodly rain Knows its time and seasons.
Born in the spring,
It moves with the wind; Clothing itself in the night,
It enriches all things. In silence, but in fullest measure,
Its clouds Hide the mountain paths With their darkness;
The lantern on the boat in the river Alone shines forth bright.
Dawn finds all drenched in the city,
And the flowers are a tapestry Fit for a temple Or palace.
“himalaya42” (www.5588520.com/TopicOther.asp?t=5&BoardID=12&id=1366)
Delightful Rain on a Spring Night
The good rain knows its season,
Waits till the spring.
It drifts in on the breeze, by night by snatch.
And moistens everything still and tender.
It is such a dark night that paths are cloaked by clouds,
The only bright is light on a ferry on the river.
At dawn where is red and wet,
That's flowers blossom in the Brocade-City.
Hung, William Tu Fu: China’s Greatest Poet (New York: Harvard University Press, 1952)
Pleased with Rain on a Spring Night
A nice rain knows when to fall –
Coming as a natural product of the spring.
Following the wind, it smoothly occupies the night
And moistens everything with soft and silent blessings.
Dark are the clouds above every country road;
There is only one light coming from a slowly moving boat.
In the morning I shall see many red and wet patches
Of full and heavy flowers everywhere in the City of
McCraw, David R. Du Fu's Laments from the South (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1992)
On A Spring Night, Delighted By Rain
These fine rains know the season aright
And just in spring they blossom to life...
Follow the breeze and steal into night,
Moisten all things: slight, without sound.
Over the wilds' path, clouds all in black;
From the river skiff, a lamp's lone shine.
At dawn, watch where pinks lie and soak:
Flowers weighing
Murphy, James R. (http://www.torusflex.com/poetry%20project1/poetry.html)
Delightful spring night rain
the good rain comes in its good time
especially in spring when all is born
borne on the wind it soaks through the night
in a steady wet that comes without sound
the country lanes wander under dark water clouds
the boats on the river cover their bright fires
in fresh morning light the puddles are red
and flowers flourish in old cheng-du
Nienhauser, William H. in Liu, Wu-chi & Irving Yucheng Lo, eds. Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975)
A Spring Night – Rejoicing in Rain
A good rain knows its season,
Comes forth in spring,
Follows the wind, steals into the night;
Glossing nature, delicate without a sound.
Clouds on country road, all black,
Sparks of a lantern from a river boat, the only light.
Morning will see red-steeped spots:
Flowers heavy on the City of
Owen, Stephen The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High T’ang (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981)
Enjoying Rain on a Spring Night
A good rain knows its season
It brings things to life right in spring
It enters the night, unseen with the breeze
It moistens things gently and without sound.
Over paths through moors are clouds all black,
A boat on the river, a single fire bright.
At daybreak look where the red is soaked,
the blossoms are heavy in
Purves, David (www.electricscotland.com/poetry/purves/Ancient_Chinese_Poems.pdf)
Spring Rain
A good rain knows its season.
It comes at the onset of Spring.
It steals through the night on a breeze,
Silently drenching everything;
A dark night, clouds black as the road
Just one light on a boat gleaming;
In the morning, drenched with water,
The flowers hang their heavy heads.
Rexroth, Kenneth in Minford, John & Joseph S. M. Lau, eds. Classical Chinese Literature: An Anthology of Translations. Vol. 1,
From Antiquity to the Tang Dynasty (
Spring Rain
A good rain knows its season.
It comes at the edge of spring.
It steals through the night on the breeze
Noiselessly wetting everything.
Dark night, the clouds black as the roads,
Only a light on a boat gleaming.
In the morning, thoroughly soaked with water,
The flowers hang their heavy heads.
Seaton, Jerome P. in Minford, John & Joseph S. M. Lau, eds. Classical Chinese Literature: An Anthology of Translations. Vol. 1,
From Antiquity to the Tang Dynasty (
Good Rain: A Night in Spring
The good rain knows its season.
Come spring it comes to life again;
With the wind, so stealthily in the night,
Moistens all things, so delicate, so silent.
On the wild paths, clouds all black.
From a river skiff, a lamp, the single light.
In morning’s glow, the red wet spots;
Flowers weigh down upon the Brocade Mandarin.
Watson,
Spring Night, Delighting in Rain
The good rain knows when to fall,
stirring new growth the moment spring arrives.
Wind-borne, it steals softly into the night,
nourishing, enriching, delicate, and soundless.
Country paths black as the clouds above them;
on a river boat a lone torch flares.
Come dawn we'll see a landscape moist and pink,
blossoms heavy over the City of
Weng Xianliang 翁显良 (www.poetic.com.cn/go.asp?id=22708&ttt=)
Happy Rain
Happy rain comes not by happy chance;
of spring’s return it’s well aware.
Soft as the breeze, quiet as the night,
it soothes the thirsting multitudes.
Out there, the fields, the paths, by dark clouds blanketed;
here in my river boat, the only light, burning bright.
Morning reveals glistening spots of crimson:
flowers, heavily beaded, smiling on the waking city.
Wu Juntao 吴钧陶 (www.poetic.com.cn/go.asp?id=22708&ttt=)
Rain in a Spring Night
The favorable rain its season knows,
It drizzles down when Spring her breaths blows.
Diving and melting into night with winds,
It mutely moistens Earth with wary minds.
The clouds and the wild path are very dark,
The only light is from the river bark.
At day-break in
There you’ll see blooms now under heavy weight.
Xie Wentong 谢文通 (www.poetic.com.cn/go.asp?id=22708&ttt=)
Rejoicing in Rain on a Spring Night
The good rain knows its season when to fall
As it does whenever Spring comes round:
Stealing into the night behind the wind
To moisten all things fine without a sound.
On country paths the clouds are a dark pall
The river boats pinpoint with light for a foil.
At dawn we see on the trail of sodden pink
The flowers hang heavy from the city wall.
Xu Zhongjie 徐忠杰 (www.poetic.com.cn/go.asp?id=22708&ttt=)
Night a Spring Rain
Good rain chooses the proper season to fall.
In spring, all trees and flowers, to life it recall.
With a mild breeze, it continues into the night.
In silence, it gives the needed moisture aright.
Darkness shuts off the field paths and the clouds from sight.
Only the lamps of river boats emit some light.
Morning sees tops of trees wet with a red stain.
Flowers in
Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang Poetry and Prose of the Tang and Song (Beijing, China: Chinese Literature, 1984)
Welcome Rain One Spring Night
A good rain knows its season
And comes when spring is here;
On the heels of the wind it slips secretly into the night,
Silent and soft, it moistens everything.
Now clouds hang black above the country roads,
A lone boat on the river sheds a glimmer of light;
At dawn we shall see splashes of rain-washed red –
Drenched, heavy blooms in the City of
Zhang Xueqing
章学清 (www.poetic.com.cn/go.asp?id=22708&ttt=)
Propitious Rain in a Spring Night
Propitious rain comes opportunely not past reason,
To its best knowledge, none but spring is its prime season.
With breeze, it slips into night, a silent, soft descent,
To gratify the thirst of life to heart's content.
The paths of yonder clad in clouds no more in sight,
The candled boat on river all the more shines bright.
Just fancy everywhere in radiant red at morn,
The City with pearl-laden flowers to adorn!
anonymous (www.chinese-poems.com)
Welcome Rain on a Spring Night
The good rain knows its season,
When spring arrives, then it comes.
It follows the wind secretly into the night,
And moistens all things softly, without sound.
On the country road, the clouds are all black,
On the river, the single fire on a boat is bright.
At dawn one sees this place now red and wet,
The flowers are heavy in the brocade city.
unknown (titohost.itbdns.com/chinese-poet/chinese%20poem-1/1-8l5w.htm)
Nice Rain in Spring Night
The nice rain knows its season
When spring comes, it appears exactly.
Following the wind, it infiltrates here at night.
Moistening anything, it is fine and has no sound.
Both paths in the field and clouds are dark.
Fires of ships on the river are solitarily bright
At dawn we see a place that gets wet in red.
This is Jinguan city where flowers are being piled up.
unknown (www2.njnu.edu.cn/tangshi/group3.htm)
Rejoicing in Rain on a Spring Night
A good rain knows its seasons right:
In spring it falls upon the ground.
With wind it steals into the night;
It moistens earth without a sound
Where dark clouds and dark lanes have met,
From river boats but lanterns glow.
At dawn you'll find the reds are wet,
Heavy with blooms the town will grow.