Yuan Dynasty
小桃红 · 采莲女（四）
杨果
碧湖湖上柳阴阴，
人影澄波浸。
常记年时对花饮，
到如今，
西风吹断回文锦。
羡他一对，
鸳鸯飞去，
残梦蓼花深。
Translation
On the blue-green lake, the willow shade lies deep and dark; a human reflection is immersed in the clear waves. I often remember that year, when we drank facing the flowers. But now, the west wind has broken the brocade of palindrome longing. I envy that pair of mandarin ducks flying away together. Only a broken dream remains, deep among the smartweed flowers.
Analysis
This fourth "Lotus-Picking Girl" song turns strongly toward memory and separation. The earlier songs presented beauty, moonlight, lotus fragrance, and song; this one places those waterside images inside the emotional world of lost love. The opening scene is quiet: a green lake, deep willow shade, clear water. The human figure appears only as a reflection immersed in the waves. This makes the person seem fragile and half-vanished, as if already belonging to memory. "I often remember that year" shifts the poem from landscape to recollection. Drinking before flowers suggests an earlier moment of shared pleasure, intimacy, and springlike happiness. The key line is "the west wind has broken the brocade of palindrome longing." The west wind implies autumn, decline, and separation. "Palindrome brocade" alludes to Su Hui's famous woven palindrome poem, traditionally associated with a woman's longing for her absent husband. Here it becomes a symbol of love letters, memory, and emotional connection. To say the wind has broken it means that time and separation have torn apart the old bond. The mandarin ducks deepen the contrast. They fly away as a pair, embodying mutual love, while the speaker remains alone. Their union intensifies her loneliness. The final image, "a broken dream deep among smartweed flowers," is restrained but painful. Smartweed grows by the water and often carries autumnal melancholy. The dream of past love has not disappeared entirely, but it survives only as a fragment, buried in the watery landscape. The song's emotional power lies in its indirectness. It does not state grief plainly. Instead, it lets grief appear through reflections, west wind, broken brocade, paired birds, and flowers in deep water.
About the Author
Yang Guo, courtesy name Zhengqing and literary name Xi'an, was a late Jin and early Yuan writer and sanqu poet from Puyin in Qizhou. He passed the jinshi examination under the Jin and later served under the Yuan, eventually reaching high office. He was known for integrity and administrative ability and was closely associated with Yuan Haowen. Yang Guo wrote poetry, prose, ci, and sanqu, with particular distinction in song. His sanqu often treats natural scenery, romantic feeling, and banquet life in a clear, ornate, and visually vivid style.