Song Dynasty
Gathering Mulberries · A Light Boat with Short Oars
Ouyang Xiu
轻舟短棹西湖好，绿水逶迤。
芳草长堤，隐隐笙歌处处随。
无风水面琉璃滑，不觉船移。
微动涟漪，惊起沙禽掠岸飞。
Translation
A light boat with short oars — West Lake is lovely. Green water winds away in gentle curves. Fragrant grass lines the long embankment, and faint music of pipes and songs seems to follow everywhere. With no wind, the water's surface is smooth as glassy jade; I do not even feel the boat moving. Only a slight ripple stirs, startling waterbirds from the sand, and they skim away along the shore.
Analysis
This lyric describes a leisurely boat ride on West Lake. The West Lake here is not the famous lake in Hangzhou, but the West Lake of Yingzhou, a place Ouyang Xiu loved deeply in his later years. He wrote a series of 'Cai Sang Zi' lyrics celebrating its scenery. The poem begins directly and lightly: 'A light boat with short oars — West Lake is lovely.' The small boat and short oars immediately create a sense of ease. This is not a grand excursion; it is a quiet, intimate way of moving through the landscape. The green water winds gently, while fragrant grass stretches along the long embankment. The faint sound of music follows from place to place. This music is important because it is distant and soft, not noisy. It gives the scene human warmth without disturbing its serenity. The second stanza focuses on stillness. 'With no wind, the water's surface is smooth as glassy jade' is the clearest image in the poem. The lake is so calm that the speaker barely senses the boat's movement. Then a tiny ripple appears, and waterbirds rise from the sand and skim along the shore. This sudden movement does not break the stillness; it deepens it. The birds are startled precisely because the lake was so quiet. The poem's charm lies in restraint. Ouyang Xiu does not force emotion or philosophy into the scene. He lets the light boat, green water, faint music, smooth surface, ripple, and flying birds create a complete mood of leisure, clarity, and late-life peace.
About the Author
Ouyang Xiu, courtesy name Yongshu, literary name Zuiweng and later Liuyi Jushi, was a major writer, historian, and statesman of the Northern Song dynasty. Born in Yongfeng, Jizhou, he is one of the 'Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song' and a leading figure in the Northern Song classical prose movement. His prose is known for natural clarity, while his ci poetry is fresh, graceful, and emotionally restrained. In his later years, he lived in Yingzhou and wrote a group of 'Cai Sang Zi' lyrics on West Lake, capturing its quiet beauty and his own leisurely state of mind. His famous works include 'The Old Drunkard's Pavilion,' 'Autumn Sound Rhapsody,' and 'Die Lian Hua · Deep, Deep Courtyard.'