宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
过秦楼·水浴清蟾
Guo Qin Lou (Crossing the Qin Tower): The Clear Moon Bathes in Water
水浴清蟾，叶喧凉吹，巷陌马声初断。
闲依露井，笑扑流萤，惹破画罗轻扇。
人静夜久凭阑，愁不归眠，立残更箭。
叹年华一瞬，人今千里，梦沈书远。
空见说、鬓怯琼梳，容销金镜，渐懒趁时匀染。
梅风地溽，虹雨苔滋，一架舞红都变。
谁信无憀，为伊才减江淹，情伤荀倩。
但明河影下，还看稀星数点。
and in the lanes the sound of horses has just died away.
Idly leaning on the open well, laughing, chasing fireflies,
she tore her painted silk fan.
The house now still, I lean on the railing late into the night,
too sorrowful to sleep, standing until the water-marker runs out.
I sigh — a year’s prime passes in a flash;
she is a thousand li away, dreams sink deep, letters come from far off.
In vain they say her hair now fears the jade comb,
her face fades in the gilt mirror,
and slowly she grows too idle to dress by fashion’s rule.
Plum-rain winds steam the earth, rainbow-rains moss the steps,
and a whole trellis of dancing red has changed.
Who would believe this listlessness —
for her my talent wanes like Jiang Yan’s, my heart breaks like Xun Qian’s.
Only beneath the Milky Way’s glow do I still count a few sparse stars.
Meaning
Waking into a cool early-summer night, the speaker is snatched back to an old summer of leaning on the well and chasing fireflies; back in the present he stands at the railing until the clock runs out, mourning that time flashes by and the beloved is a thousand li away. Her beauty fades unseen, the trellis of red flowers is ruined by the rains, his talent wastes and his heart breaks like the classical lovers, and he ends counting sparse stars beneath the Milky Way.
水浴清蟾，叶喧凉吹，巷陌马声初断。闲依露井，笑扑流萤，惹破画罗轻扇。人静夜久凭阑，愁不归眠，立残更箭。叹年华一瞬，人今千里，梦沈书远。空见说、鬓怯琼梳，容销金镜，渐懒趁时匀染。梅风地溽，虹雨苔滋，一架舞红都变。谁信无憀，为伊才减江淹，情伤荀倩。但明河影下，还看稀星数点。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] The clear moon lies in the water, leaves rustle in the cool wind, the horses’ hoofbeats in the lanes have just ceased. A memory: leaning idly on the open well, laughing as she chased fireflies and tore her painted fan. Back in the present — the house still, the night late, leaning on the railing until the clock fails; time flashes by, she is a thousand li away, dreams sink, letters never come. They say she neglects her comb and mirror as the plum rains ruin the trellis of flowers. Who could believe this listlessness — talent wasting like Jiang Yan’s, heart breaking like Xun Qian’s? Beneath the Milky Way, a few sparse stars.
[Structure] The poem’s spine is the fold between past and present: the upper stanza frames the present night, cuts without warning into a remembered summer, then snaps back to the railing and exhausted clock; the lower stanza imagines the absent woman, then the season’s ruin, then the two allusions, closing on the sky. This sudden turn — Zhou Bangyan’s famous art of interruption — is what lets one night hold a whole history.
[Imagery] Moon in water, rustling leaves, and dying hoofbeats cool the present; the fan’s painted moon-maiden, dimmed with dust, keeps the past alive as an object; the grape-green flood and rainbow rain measure the season’s passage; the closing sparse stars under the Milky Way answer the opening moon — one cold sky framing both memory and solitude.
【白话串讲】 周邦彦写《过秦楼·水浴清蟾》：“水浴清蟾，叶喧凉吹，巷陌马声初断”——“闲依露井，笑扑流萤，惹破画罗轻扇”——“叹年华一瞬，人今千里，梦沈书远”——“人静夜久凭阑，愁不归眠”——他写相思——人今千里。 【意象与手法】 “水浴清蟾，叶喧凉吹，巷陌马声初断”写秋夜之景；“闲依露井，笑扑流萤，惹破画罗轻扇”忆旧时之乐；“叹年华一瞬，人今千里，梦沈书远”写别后；“人静夜久凭阑，愁不归眠”写夜久凭阑；结以“但明河影下，还看稀星数点”以明河稀星收束。今昔对照、含蓄深婉。 【情感与主旨】 周邦彦写秋夜怀人之作，由眼前秋夜忆及旧日共游之乐，写别后相思与年华之叹，是清真词中情词的代表。 【名句点睛】 常考“闲依露井，笑扑流萤，惹破画罗轻扇”以笑扑流萤写旧日之乐；“但明河影下，还看稀星数点”以明河稀星写秋夜相思。
Background
Zhou Bangyan (1056–1121), styled Meicheng and known as the Qingzhen Lay Buddhist, of Qiantang (modern Hangzhou), stands as the great consolidator of the Northern Song lyric — the Du Fu of ci — famed for musical precision and dense, polished diction. Guo Qin Lou is a long tune of 109 characters built for sustained narration, and this lyric, composed in his mature years, is one of his greatest love poems. Its occasion is unknown: some read it as an elegy for a singer or courtesan of his youth, others as a more general lament for a parted beloved. Either way it belongs to the Qingzhen mastery of folding time — a whole remembered summer compressed into a single present night.
《过秦楼·水浴清蟾》为北宋词人周邦彦所作词。周邦彦（1056—1121），字美成，号清真居士，钱塘（今浙江杭州）人，北宋词人，精通音律，词风典雅精工，为婉约词集大成者，人称「词中老杜」。此词写秋夜怀人。词中「水浴清蟾，叶喧凉吹，巷陌马声初断」写秋夜之景；「闲依露井，笑扑流萤，惹破画罗轻扇」写旧时之乐；「人静夜久凭阑，愁不归眠，立残更箭」写夜久凭阑；「叹年华一瞬，人今千里，梦沈书远」写人今千里；「空见说、鬓怯琼梳，容销金镜，渐懒趁时匀染」写渐懒匀染；「梅风地溽，虹雨苔滋，一架舞红都变」写梅风虹雨；「谁信无憀，为伊才减江淹，情伤荀倩」写才减情伤；「但明河影下，还看稀星数点」写明河稀星。周邦彦此词以秋夜怀人、人今千里写其怀人之情，含蓄深婉，是周邦彦词中的名篇。此篇《过秦楼·水浴清蟾》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。
Art
The lyric’s supreme craft is the control of time. The present night frames the whole: moon in water, cool wind, dying hoofbeats, then the railing and the exhausted clock; but without signal the poem cuts into a remembered summer of the well, the fireflies, the torn fan — the Qingzhen art of sudden interruption. The lower stanza shifts to imagining the absent woman: her hair fears the comb, her face fades in the mirror, she neglects fashion — a face we never see, drawn through rumor (“in vain they say”). Then the season’s ruin — plum-rain steam, rainbow rain, the trellis of red turned — measures how long the absence has lasted. Two allusions of wasting talent and breaking hearts raise the private sorrow to the level of classical exemplars, and the close — counting sparse stars beneath the Milky Way — answers the opening moon, enclosing the poem in one cold sky. Layer upon layer: object, memory, season, allusion, sky.
此词艺术上以「含蓄深婉、今昔对照」见长。全词上片写秋夜之景与旧时之乐，下片写人今千里与明河稀星。上片「水浴清蟾，叶喧凉吹，巷陌马声初断」写秋夜之景：水浴清蟾，叶喧凉吹，巷陌马声初断；「闲依露井，笑扑流萤，惹破画罗轻扇」写旧时之乐：闲依露井，笑扑流萤，惹破画罗轻扇；「人静夜久凭阑，愁不归眠，立残更箭」写夜久凭阑：人静夜久凭阑，愁不归眠，立残更箭；「叹年华一瞬，人今千里，梦沈书远」写人今千里：叹年华一瞬，人今千里，梦沈书远。下片「空见说、鬓怯琼梳，容销金镜，渐懒趁时匀染」写渐懒匀染：空见说、鬓怯琼梳，容销金镜，渐懒趁时匀染；「梅风地溽，虹雨苔滋，一架舞红都变」写梅风虹雨：梅风地溽，虹雨苔滋，一架舞红都变；「谁信无憀，为伊才减江淹，情伤荀倩」写才减情伤：谁信无憀，为伊才减江淹，情伤荀倩；「但明河影下，还看稀星数点」写明河稀星：但明河影下，还看稀星数点。全词含蓄深婉，今昔对照，是周邦彦词中的名篇。
Allusions
Qingchan (clear toad) is the moon, from the legend of the toad in the moon; water bathing the clear moon is the moon’s reflection in the well or stream. Lujing is an uncovered well, the trysting place of old summer nights. The painted silk fan chasing fireflies alludes directly to Du Mu’s “Autumn Evening” — “a small silk fan flutters to catch fireflies” — and to the palace maidens of summer. The phoenix-riding maiden painted on the fan’s moon recalls the immortal consorts who rode away on phoenixes (the legend of Xiao Shi and Nong Yu), so the fan preserves a lost beloved as a painted immortal. “Talent wanes like Jiang Yan’s” cites the story of Jiang Yan losing his literary gift in later life — here withered by longing. “Heart breaks like Xun Qian’s” cites Xun Can, courtesy name Qian, who pined to death after his wife’s death. The Milky Way (ming he) divides the cowherd and weaver maid, lovers separated by the river of stars; to count sparse stars beneath it is to watch the very barrier that keeps lovers apart. Jin lü (Golden Thread) is the farewell song made famous by Du Qiuniang — to ask who will sing the Golden Thread for me is to beg for a farewell song no one is left to sing.
词中「清蟾」「露井」「流萤」「画罗轻扇」「更箭」「年华一瞬」「琼梳」「金镜」「匀染」「梅风」「虹雨」「舞红」「无憀」「才减江淹」「情伤荀倩」「明河」「稀星」等语，皆含典故故实。「清蟾」指月（蟾为月中蟾蜍），「水浴清蟾」写月映水中；「露井」写无盖之井；「流萤」写飞萤；「画罗轻扇」写画罗轻扇，「笑扑流萤，惹破画罗轻扇」写笑扑流萤而破扇，暗含杜牧《秋夕》「轻罗小扇扑流萤」之意；「更箭」写更漏之箭（计时刻）；「年华一瞬」写年华如一瞬间；「琼梳」写玉梳；「金镜」写铜镜；「匀染」写匀妆敷粉；「梅风」写梅雨时之风；「虹雨」写雨后之虹雨；「舞红」写风中飞舞之红花；「无憀」写无聊；「才减江淹」用江淹才尽之典（江淹晚年才思减退），「为伊才减江淹」写为伊而才思减退；「情伤荀倩」用荀奉倩（荀粲）妻亡神伤之典，写情伤；「明河」写银河。词人以清蟾、露井、流萤、更箭、才减江淹、情伤荀倩、明河等典入词，不着痕迹，而把秋夜怀人之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。
Commentary
Guo Qin Lou is generally ranked among Zhou Bangyan’s finest long lyrics and among the great Song love poems. Critics from the Qing dynasty onward have singled out its handling of time — the way a whole summer of memory is folded into one autumn night without a seam — as the Qingzhen manner at its height. The lyric avoids every direct cry until its last four characters, and even then ends not in speech but in a question no one answers. What later readers most admire is the discipline: a personal sorrow is kept at the temperature of moon, fan, rain, and stars, so that the grief seems to belong to the objects themselves.
这首《过秦楼·水浴清蟾》，是周邦彦写秋夜怀人之作，写水浴清蟾、笑扑流萤、人今千里之情，含蓄深婉。上片写秋夜之景与旧时之乐：「水浴清蟾，叶喧凉吹，巷陌马声初断」——水浴清蟾，叶喧凉吹，巷陌马声初断。写秋夜之景：月浴水中、叶喧凉吹，巷陌马声初断——清蟾、凉吹、马声断，写尽秋夜初静；「闲依露井，笑扑流萤，惹破画罗轻扇」——闲依露井，笑扑流萤，惹破画罗轻扇。写旧时之乐：闲依露井、笑扑流萤，惹破画罗轻扇——忆旧日扑萤破扇之乐；「人静夜久凭阑，愁不归眠，立残更箭」——人静夜久凭阑，愁不归眠，立残更箭。写夜久凭阑：人静夜久凭阑，愁不归眠、立残更箭——今夜凭阑立残更箭，与旧日之乐相对；「叹年华一瞬，人今千里，梦沈书远」——叹年华一瞬，人今千里，梦沈书远。写人今千里：叹年华一瞬，人今千里、梦沈书远——年华一瞬、人隔千里，正写怀人。下片写人今千里与明河稀星：「空见说、鬓怯琼梳，容销金镜，渐懒趁时匀染」——空见说、鬓怯琼梳，容销金镜，渐懒趁时匀染。写渐懒匀染：空见说、鬓怯琼梳、容销金镜，渐懒趁时匀染——其鬓怯容销、渐懒匀染，正写相思；「梅风地溽，虹雨苔滋，一架舞红都变」——梅风地溽，虹雨苔滋，一架舞红都变。写梅风虹雨：梅风地溽、虹雨苔滋，一架舞红都变——梅雨既过，红花都变；「谁信无憀，为伊才减江淹，情伤荀倩」——谁信无憀，为伊才减江淹，情伤荀倩。写才减情伤：谁信无聊，为伊才减江淹、情伤荀倩——以江淹才尽、荀粲伤妻写为伊才减情伤；「但明河影下，还看稀星数点」——但明河影下，还看稀星数点。写明河稀星：但明河影下，还看稀星数点——夜深明河之下，唯数稀星。这「但明河影下，还看稀星数点」，是全词之结：以数稀星写其夜久怀人。全词含蓄深婉，今昔对照，正是周邦彦词中的名篇。
Prosody
Line by line
水浴清蟾，叶喧凉吹，巷陌马声初断。
The clear moon bathes in water; leaves rustle in the cool wind, and in the lanes the sound of horses has just died away.
水浴清蟾，叶喧凉吹，巷陌马声初断。
The clear moon bathes in water; the leaves rustle in the cool breeze; the clatter of horses in the lanes has just died.
首三句写秋夜之景，起笔即见其境。「水浴清蟾」写水浴清蟾，「水浴」写月浴水中、「清蟾」指月；「叶喧凉吹」写叶喧凉吹，「叶喧」写叶响、「凉吹」写凉风；「巷陌马声初断」写巷陌马声初断，「巷陌」写街巷、「马声初断」写马声初静。三句以清蟾浴水写月、以叶喧凉吹写风、以马声初断写夜静，写尽秋夜月明风凉、巷陌初静之境。以景起兴，含蓄而清冷，是「以景起兴」的妙笔。
The opening three phrases write the autumn night scene, the realm rising with the first stroke. The clear moon bathes in water: the water-bathe the moon's bath in water, the clear toad the moon; the leaves rustle in the cool breeze: the leaf-rustle the leaves' sound, the cool wind the cool air; the clatter of horses in the lanes has just died: the lanes the streets, the horse-sound-just-ended the hoofbeats ceasing. Three phrases, the moon's bath in water, the leaves' cool rustle, the lanes' stilled hoofbeats — the autumn night's bright moon and cool wind, the streets just fallen quiet. Rising on scene, restrained and cold, the pointed brush.
闲依露井，笑扑流萤，惹破画罗轻扇。
Idly leaning on the open well, laughing, chasing fireflies, she tore her painted silk fan.
闲依露井，笑扑流萤，惹破画罗轻扇。
Leaning idly by the open well, laughing at the flying glow-worms, she tears the light silk fan.
此三句写旧时之乐，是全词由今忆昔的关键。「闲依露井」写闲依露井，「闲依」写闲倚、「露井」写无盖之井；「笑扑流萤」写笑扑流萤，「笑扑」写笑扑、「流萤」写飞萤；「惹破画罗轻扇」写惹破画罗轻扇，「惹破」写碰破、「画罗轻扇」写画罗之扇。三句一写闲依露井、一写笑扑流萤、一写惹破画罗轻扇，化用杜牧轻罗小扇扑流萤之意，写尽旧日扑萤破扇之乐。以乐写忆，含蓄而深挚，是「以乐写忆」的点睛之笔。
The three phrases write the old joy, the key of the ci's memory of the past. Leaning idly by the open well: the idle-lean the lounging, the open well the well without a roof; laughing at the flying glow-worms: the laughing-pounce the mirthful swat, the wandering firefly the flitting glowworm; she tears the light silk fan: the tear-break the breaking, the painted-light-silk-fan the painted gauze fan. Three phrases drawing on Du Mu's the light silk fan swatting the flying glow-worms, writing the old joy of swatting fireflies and breaking the fan. Writing memory through joy, restrained and deep, the pointed stroke.
叹年华一瞬，人今千里，梦沈书远。
I sigh — a year’s prime passes in a flash; she is a thousand li away, dreams sink deep, letters come from far off.
叹年华一瞬，人今千里，梦沈书远。
I sigh at the years' instant; the person is now a thousand li away; the dream is sunken, the letter far.
此三句写人今千里，是全词写怀人的关键。「叹年华一瞬」写叹年华一瞬，「叹」写叹息、「年华一瞬」写年华如一瞬间；「人今千里」写人今千里，「人今千里」写人今在千里之外；「梦沈书远」写梦沈书远，「梦沈」写梦沈、「书远」写书信难达。三句一写叹年华一瞬、一写人今千里、一写梦沈书远，以年华一瞬写时不我待、以人今千里写其远、以梦沈书远写其情之不得通，写尽年华一瞬、人隔千里之慨。以慨写情，含蓄而深挚，是「以慨写情」的点睛之笔。
The three phrases write the person now a thousand li away, the key of the ci's longing. I sigh at the years' instant: the sigh the lament, the years-in-an-instant the years like a moment; the person is now a thousand li away: the person-now-thousand-li the person now beyond a thousand li; the dream is sunken, the letter far: the dream-sunken the dream sunk, the letter-far the letter hard to reach. Three phrases, the years' instant and the person's distance and the dream-sunken letter-far — time slipping, the person far, the feeling's road blocked. Writing grief through lament, restrained and deep, the pointed stroke.
但明河影下，还看稀星数点。
Only beneath the Milky Way’s glow do I still count a few sparse stars.
但明河影下，还看稀星数点。
Only beneath the shadow of the bright galaxy, I watch a few sparse stars.
尾二句写明河稀星，是全词立意的落点。「但明河影下」写但明河影下，「但」写只是、「明河影下」写银河影下；「还看稀星数点」写还看稀星数点，「还看」写还看、「稀星数点」写疏星几点。二句以「但」写其唯余此景、以「还看稀星数点」写其夜深数星，写尽夜深明河之下、独数稀星之境——人今千里，夜阑唯数稀星。以景写情，含蓄而深挚，是全词最动人处，也是「以景写情」的点睛之笔。
The closing two phrases write the sparse stars under the galaxy, the landing point of the ci's intention. Only beneath the shadow of the bright galaxy: the only the merely, the bright-river-shadow the Milky Way's shade; I watch a few sparse stars: the still-watch the watching, the sparse-stars-a-few the few faint stars. Two phrases, the only this scene and the watching of the few stars — the night deep and the lone counting of stars: the person a thousand li away, the night worn and the stars counted. Writing feeling through scene, restrained and deep, the most moving place of the ci, the pointed stroke.
Study
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Yan Shu’s Die Lian Hua — “last night the west wind stripped the jade-green trees; alone I climb the high tower and gaze to the end of the horizon” — is the famous Song lyric of parting, gazing far to write grief. Zhou Bangyan’s Guo Qin Lou writes “the house now still, I lean on the railing late into the night, too sorrowful to sleep, standing until the water-marker runs out” — standing long to write grief. Both are autumn nights, tower and railing, longing: one gazes to the horizon’s end, the other stands until the clock fails; one is Yan Shu’s warm lucidity, the other Zhou’s exquisite craft. Read together, they show two Song ways of writing leaning and longing.
晏殊《蝶恋花·槛菊愁烟兰泣露》「昨夜西风凋碧树，独上高楼，望尽天涯路」，写秋日离恨、独上高楼望尽天涯，是宋词写离愁的名篇；周邦彦《过秦楼》则以「人静夜久凭阑，愁不归眠，立残更箭」「叹年华一瞬，人今千里」写夜久凭阑、人今千里。两词同写秋夜凭栏怀人、望尽天涯：一写独上高楼望尽天涯路、以望远写愁，一写夜久凭阑立残更箭、以立久写愁；一为晏殊之温润、一为周邦彦之精工，并读正可见宋词写「凭栏怀人」的两种笔法，皆于凭栏望远中见怀人之情。
八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Ba Sheng Gan Zhou (Eight Beats of the Ganzhou Song): Facing the Rustling Evening Rain Spilled Over the River 柳永 · 同写秋夜羁旅、望乡怀人，一写霜风凄紧残照当楼、一写水浴清蟾立残更箭，皆于秋夜中见羁旅怀人之情 Both write autumn-night travel and gazing home in longing — one under the tightening frost-wind and the setting sun on the tower, the other beside the bathing moon and the failed clockLiu Yong’s Ba Sheng Gan Zhou — “the frost-wind tightens, the passes and rivers grow cold, the setting sun falls on the tower” and “I cannot bear to climb high and gaze far, my homeland remote and dim, the thought of return hard to gather” — is the famous Song lyric of the traveler’s homesickness. Zhou Bangyan’s Guo Qin Lou writes “the clear moon bathes in water, leaves rustle in the cool wind” and “I sigh — a year’s prime passes in a flash; she is a thousand li away” — an autumn night of longing for a person rather than a home. Both are autumn-night travel and gazing: one writes sorrow by climbing high, the other by leaning on the railing; one is Liu Yong’s flowing grace, the other Zhou’s exquisite craft. Read together, they show two Song ways of writing the wanderer’s longing.
柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「渐霜风凄紧，关河冷落，残照当楼」「不忍登高临远，望故乡渺邈，归思难收」，写羁旅望乡、归思难收，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；周邦彦《过秦楼》则以「水浴清蟾，叶喧凉吹」「叹年华一瞬，人今千里，梦沈书远」写秋夜怀人、人今千里。两词同写秋夜羁旅、望乡怀人：一写霜风凄紧残照当楼、以登高写愁，一写水浴清蟾立残更箭、以凭栏写愁；一为柳永之婉约、一为周邦彦之精工，并读正可见宋词写「羁旅怀人」的两种笔法，皆于秋夜中见羁旅怀人之情。