Song Dynasty
鹊桥仙·纤云弄巧
纤云弄巧，飞星传恨，银汉迢迢暗度。
金风玉露一相逢，便胜却人间无数。
柔情似水，佳期如梦，忍顾鹊桥归路。
两情若是久长时，又岂在朝朝暮暮。
Translation
Delicate clouds weave subtle patterns; shooting stars seem to carry sorrow, and the distant Milky Way is crossed in secrecy. When the lovers meet once beneath autumn wind and white dew, that single meeting surpasses countless ordinary unions on earth. Their tenderness flows like water; the promised hour is dreamlike and brief, and they cannot bear to look back toward the magpie bridge of parting. If two hearts remain faithful through time, why must love depend on being together morning and night?
Analysis
Queqiao Xian uses the Qixi legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl to create a distinctive vision of love: the meeting is brief, yet brevity does not make it tragic; the distance is vast, yet distance does not destroy fidelity. The opening images—delicate clouds, flying stars, the far Milky Way—place love in a bright but remote celestial space. Separation is built into the scene. Yet the line about autumn wind and white dew changes distance into preciousness: one true meeting can be worth more than countless ordinary unions. In the second half, tenderness becomes water, the appointed time becomes a dream, and the lovers cannot bear to look back at the bridge that leads them apart. The closing couplet is the poem's moral and emotional center. It does not reject companionship; rather, it refuses to reduce love to possession or daily proximity. Qin Guan turns a legend of annual separation into a lucid, generous philosophy of constancy. That balance of sorrow, clarity, and trust is what gives the lyric its enduring power.
About the Author
Qin Guan, courtesy name Shaoyou, also called Taixu and known as Huaihai Jushi, was a Northern Song poet from Gaoyou in Yangzhou. A member of the Su Shi circle known as the Four Scholars of Su's School, he is especially celebrated for ci lyrics of refined tenderness and emotional depth. His writing often turns on longing, separation, exile, and the delicate movements of the heart. Queqiao Xian: Delicate Clouds Weave Patterns is his most famous lyric, transforming the Qixi legend into a meditation on faithful love.