Song Dynasty
临江仙·梦后楼台高锁
梦后楼台高锁，酒醒帘幕低垂。
去年春恨却来时。
落花人独立，微雨燕双飞。
记得小蘋初见，两重心字罗衣。
琵琶弦上说相思。
当时明月在，曾照彩云归。
Translation
After the dream, the tower stands locked high; after wine, the curtains hang low. The sorrow of last spring returns once more. Among falling blossoms, she stood alone; in the fine rain, swallows flew in pairs. I still remember the first time I saw Xiaoping, wearing layered silk robes patterned with the character for heart. On the strings of her pipa she spoke of longing. The moon of that night is still there; it once shone on her as she went away like a colored cloud.
Analysis
This lyric is one of Yan Jidao's most famous recollections of Xiaoping, a singer from his past. Its power lies in what it withholds. Instead of telling a complete love story, it offers fragments: waking from a dream, sobering from wine, falling blossoms, fine rain, paired swallows, and a moon that remains. The opening couplet presents two awakenings: after the dream, the beloved is unreachable; after wine, memory returns. The locked tower and lowered curtains both suggest that the past has been sealed away. The celebrated line about a person standing alone amid falling flowers while swallows fly in pairs creates a sharp emotional contrast: spring is full of life and pairing, but the speaker is left in solitude. The second half turns to memory itself. Xiaoping appears through clothing, music, and gesture, not through explanation. The final moon is the most haunting image. It is still present, but the woman it once illuminated has vanished like a colored cloud. Yan Jidao's longing is therefore not only desire for a person; it is grief over time itself.
About the Author
Yan Jidao, courtesy name Shuyuan and literary name Xiaoshan, was a Northern Song lyricist from Linchuan in Fuzhou and the seventh son of Yan Shu. Born into a distinguished family, he nevertheless lived through disappointment and decline. His ci often return to past gatherings, singers, music, separation, and memory, setting present loneliness against vanished splendor. Rather than argue, his poems move through dream, recollection, and the ache of what cannot be recovered.