Song Dynasty
雨霖铃·寒蝉凄切
寒蝉凄切，对长亭晚，骤雨初歇。
都门帐饮无绪，留恋处，兰舟催发。
执手相看泪眼，竟无语凝噎。
念去去，千里烟波，暮霭沉沉楚天阔。
多情自古伤离别，更那堪，冷落清秋节。
今宵酒醒何处？
杨柳岸，晓风残月。
此去经年，应是良辰好景虚设。
便纵有千种风情，更与何人说？
Translation
The autumn cicadas cry in piercing sorrow. At dusk, before the long pavilion, the sudden rain has just stopped. Outside the capital gate, a farewell banquet has been set, but there is no heart for drinking. Just as we linger, the painted boat urges departure. Hand in hand, we look into each other’s tear-filled eyes, choked and speechless. I think of the road ahead: a thousand li of misty waters, evening haze sinking, the sky of Chu vast and open. Since ancient times, those who feel deeply have suffered at parting—how much more in this desolate clear autumn. Tonight, when I wake from wine, where will I be? Perhaps by a willow-lined bank, in the morning wind, beneath a fading moon. From now on, year after year, even the finest hours and beautiful scenes will be empty. Even if I have a thousand kinds of tenderness, to whom could I speak them?
Analysis
“Yulinling: Chilling Cicadas” is one of Liu Yong’s masterpieces and one of the most famous farewell lyrics in the ci tradition. Its emotional movement is carefully staged: from the immediate farewell scene to the imagined loneliness of the future. The opening line gathers sound, place, time, and weather into a single atmosphere of desolation: cicadas cry, the long pavilion marks departure, dusk is falling, and the sudden rain has just ceased. The farewell banquet is empty of joy, and the boat’s urging makes separation unavoidable. The line “hand in hand, we look into each other’s tear-filled eyes, choked and speechless” is powerful because of its plainness. It does not explain grief; it enacts it. The next lines move from the pavilion to the road ahead: misty waters for a thousand li, deepening evening haze, and the vast sky of Chu. The second stanza universalizes the sorrow: since ancient times, the deeply feeling have suffered at parting. “Where will I be when I wake from wine tonight?” imagines the solitary aftermath—willows, morning wind, and a fading moon. In the final lines, all future beauty becomes empty because there is no one to share it with. The poem’s greatness lies in its ability to unfold separation across time: the moment of parting, the journey after it, and the long years to come.
About the Author
Liu Yong, originally named Liu Sanbian and courtesy name Qiqing, was a major Northern Song ci poet from Chong’an in Fujian. After repeated failures in the civil service examinations, he spent much of his life in the urban world of singers, musicians, and entertainment quarters. This experience gave him deep familiarity with popular tunes and everyday emotion. Liu Yong transformed the long ci form into a vehicle for extended emotional narration, especially in themes of parting, travel, longing, and city life. “Yulinling: Chilling Cicadas” is one of his greatest works and a defining example of the Song farewell lyric.