Song Dynasty
留春令·咏梅花
故人溪上，挂愁无奈，烟梢月树。
一涓春水点黄昏，便没顿、相思处。
曾把芳心深相许。
故梦劳诗苦。
闻说东风亦多情，被竹外、香留住。
Translation
By the stream where an old friend once stood, sorrow now hangs helplessly among smoky branches and moonlit trees. A slender thread of spring water touches the dusk, yet there is nowhere to rest this longing. Once a fragrant heart was deeply entrusted. Old dreams weary the mind, and even poetry becomes bitter. I hear that the east wind, too, is full of feeling, held outside the bamboo by the lingering scent of plum blossoms.
Analysis
Although the title announces a poem on plum blossoms, the lyric is truly about memory and longing. Shi Dazu is known for refined and intricate object-writing, and here the plum is not merely a flower; it is a vessel for an absent friend, an old promise, and a lingering emotional scene. The opening “by the stream where an old friend once stood” immediately makes the landscape personal. Moonlit branches and smoky tips are beautiful, but they are shadowed by helpless sorrow. The second stanza reveals the emotional core: “a fragrant heart was deeply entrusted.” The “fragrant heart” belongs both to the plum blossom and to the person remembered. Old dreams make poetry bitter. The final image is especially elegant: the east wind, usually free and moving, is detained by the scent of plum blossoms outside the bamboo. Instead of saying directly that longing cannot depart, the poem lets the wind itself become the figure of lingering attachment.
About the Author
Shi Dazu, courtesy name Bangqing and literary name Meixi, was a Southern Song ci poet known especially for object-chanting lyrics. Though his official career was limited, he gained lasting literary reputation through refined, elegant, and intricately crafted ci. He inherited aspects of Zhou Bangyan’s polished style while developing his own delicate and emotionally suggestive voice. His poems often transform flowers, birds, and seasonal objects into carriers of human feeling. “Lingering Spring: On Plum Blossoms” is a fine example of his ability to merge object-writing with personal longing.