Song Dynasty
蝶恋花·春景·花褪残红青杏小
花褪残红青杏小，燕子飞时，绿水人家绕。
枝上柳绵吹又少，天涯何处无芳草。
墙里秋千墙外道，墙外行人，墙里佳人笑。
笑渐不闻声渐悄，多情却被无情恼。
Translation
The flowers have shed their last red, and small green apricots appear on the branches. When swallows fly, green water winds around the houses. Willow down on the branches grows less as the wind blows it away, yet fragrant grass can be found anywhere under heaven. Inside the wall, someone plays on a swing; outside the wall runs the road. A passerby outside hears the laughter of a lovely woman within. The laughter gradually fades, the sound grows quiet, and the one who feels too much is troubled by the one who never meant to stir his heart.
Analysis
This lyric begins as a late-spring scene and becomes a subtle comedy of desire. The opening image—flowers losing their last red while small green apricots appear—contains both decline and renewal. Spring is passing, but life is changing form. Swallows, green water, and houses create a fresh, open world. The famous line about willow down growing scarce and fragrant grass existing everywhere can be read both as consolation for passing spring and as a release from emotional fixation. In the second half, the poem turns suddenly to a wall. The wall divides space and emotion. Inside are a swing and a woman's laughter; outside is only the road and the passerby who hears but cannot see or reach her. The laughter fades, and with it the moment disappears. The final line is wonderfully exact: the 'unfeeling' person may not be cruel at all; she simply did not intend to stir anyone's heart. The trouble belongs to the one who is too responsive, too ready to feel. Su Shi turns a small incident into a graceful reflection on fleeting beauty and the self-created pain of attachment.
About the Author
Su Shi, courtesy name Zizhan and known as Dongpo Jushi, was a Northern Song writer, calligrapher, painter, and statesman from Meishan in Meizhou. One of the central figures of Song culture, he transformed ci poetry by widening its emotional and intellectual range beyond courtly love and song-house sentiment. His lyrics can carry landscape, philosophy, humor, political feeling, and ordinary human longing. Die Lian Hua: Spring Scene shows this breadth in miniature, turning late-spring scenery and a brief encounter across a wall into a delicate comedy of desire and disappointment.