Yuan Dynasty
沉醉东风 · 闲居（一）
卢挚
雨过分畦种瓜，
旱时引水浇麻。
共几个田舍翁，
说几句庄家话，
瓦盆边浊酒生涯。
醉里乾坤大，
任他高柳清风睡煞。
Translation
After rain, I divide the ridges and plant melons; in drought, I lead water to irrigate hemp. With a few old farmers, I speak a few words of field talk, living beside an earthen basin of rough wine. In drunkenness, heaven and earth grow vast; beneath tall willows and clear wind, I let myself sleep to the full.
Analysis
Drunk in the East Wind · Living at Leisure presents a rural life of withdrawal from official and worldly concerns. Unlike Lu Zhi's historical reflection songs, this piece does not dwell on ruins, dynasties, or public achievement. It turns instead to fields, crops, farmers, rough wine, and sleep. The opening lines describe practical agricultural work: planting melons after rain and drawing water during drought. This is not idleness in the sense of doing nothing. It is a life aligned with weather, soil, and seasonal rhythm. "Speaking field talk with old farmers" is important. The speaker no longer occupies the world of court language, official argument, or literary display. He enters the speech of rural life, where the central subjects are crops and weather. "An earthen basin of rough wine" gives the song its rustic texture. The vessel is plain, the wine is unrefined, but this simplicity is precisely the point. The speaker is not praising luxury; he is praising freedom from luxury. "In drunkenness, heaven and earth grow vast" is the philosophical center of the song. On the surface, wine enlarges perception. More deeply, once the mind is freed from status, ambition, and calculation, the world feels wider. The closing line is wonderfully relaxed. Tall willows and clear wind might invite refined appreciation, but the speaker simply sleeps beneath them. That is the ultimate gesture of leisure: not performing elegance, but inhabiting ease. The song's strength lies in its earthiness. It does not present reclusion as a lofty pose. It presents it as planting, watering, talking, drinking, and sleeping. In that plainness, Lu Zhi finds genuine freedom.
About the Author
Lu Zhi, courtesy name Chudao, also known as Xinlao, and literary name Shuzhai, was a Yuan dynasty writer and sanqu poet from Zhuojun. He served in high literary office, including as Hanlin Academician-in-Chief, and was one of the important literati of the early Yuan. He was associated with figures such as Bai Pu, Ma Zhiyuan, and Zhu Lianxiu. His sanqu are numerous and cover landscape, historical reflection, object poems, reclusion, lamentation, and farewell. His style is clear, elegant, and open, combining literati refinement with the natural movement of Yuan song.