宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
庆宫春·双桨莼波
Qinggongchun (Spring in the Celebrated Palace) — Twin Oars on the Water-shield Waves
双桨莼波，一蓑松雨，暮愁渐满空阔。
呼我盟鸥，翩翩欲下，背人还过木末。
那回归去，荡云雪、孤舟夜发。
伤心重见，依约眉山，黛痕低压。
采香径里春寒，老子婆娑，自歌谁答。
垂虹西望，飘然引去，此兴平生难遏。
酒醒波远，政凝想、明珰素袜。
如今安在，唯有阑干，伴人一霎。
I call to the gulls I befriended — they flutter, about to descend, then turn from me and pass over the treetops.
That time going home, cleaving cloud and snow, a lone boat set out at night.
Heartbroken, I see them again: faintly the eyebrow mountains, their dark traces pressing low.
In the Fragrance-Gathering Path the spring is cold; this old man dances and sings to himself — who answers?
Looking west at the Rainbow Bridge, he drifts free, drawn away; this mood in all my life is hard to restrain.
The wine sobers, the waves are far; just as I muse — bright earrings, white silk feet.
Where are they now? Only the railing remains, keeping me company for a moment.
Meaning
On a dusk river journey, the poet calls the gulls, remembers a night boat departing through cloud and snow, and glimpses the mountains like dark brows. Spring cold in the old Fragrance-Gathering Path, the Rainbow Bridge, the wine-sobered vision of a goddess — all fold into the final question: where are they now? Only the railing remains, and only for a moment. The poem is about the beautiful transience of everything the scene recalls.
双桨莼波，一蓑松雨，暮愁渐满空阔。呼我盟鸥，翩翩欲下，背人还过木末。那回归去，荡云雪、孤舟夜发。伤心重见，依约眉山，黛痕低压。采香径里春寒，老子婆娑，自歌谁答。垂虹西望，飘然引去，此兴平生难遏。酒醒波远，政凝想、明珰素袜。如今安在，唯有阑干，伴人一霎。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] Twin oars trail on the water-shield waves; in a straw cape he meets the pine rain, and dusk sorrow slowly fills the open vastness. He calls to the gulls he befriended — they flutter down as if to come, then turn from him and pass over the treetops. That time going home, cleaving cloud and snow, the lone boat set out at night. Heartbroken, he sees them again: faintly, the eyebrow mountains, their dark traces pressing low. In the Fragrance-Gathering Path the spring is cold; this old man dances and sings — who answers? Looking west at the Rainbow Bridge, he drifts free, drawn away; this mood in all his life is hard to restrain. The wine sobers, the waves are far; just as he muses — bright earrings, white silk feet. Where are they now? Only the railing remains, with him for a moment. [Structure] Present dusk, remembered departure, remembered presence, present railing: four panels that fold memory into the scene. [Imagery] Water, birds, cloud, snow, mountain-eyebrows, waves — the whole poem is fluid, as if painted in wet ink; the final railing is the one solid object, and it lasts only 'a moment.'
【白话串讲】 姜夔写《庆宫春·双桨莼波》：“双桨莼波，一蓑松雨，暮愁渐满空阔”——“呼我盟鸥，翩翩欲下，背人还过木末”——“那回归去，荡云雪、孤舟夜发”——“伤心重见，依约眉山，黛痕低压”——他写夜游——暮愁渐满空阔。 【意象与手法】 “双桨莼波，一蓑松雨，暮愁渐满空阔”写夜泛之景；“呼我盟鸥，翩翩欲下，背人还过木末”以盟鸥写鸥盟之趣；“那回归去，荡云雪、孤舟夜发”忆夜泛旧事；“伤心重见，依约眉山，黛痕低压”以眉山写山色；结以“如今安在，唯有阑干，伴人一霎”写物是人非。含蓄空灵。 【情感与主旨】 姜夔写怀古羁旅之作，写夜泛垂虹、追忆旧游与物是人非之慨，是白石词中清空骚雅的代表。 【名句点睛】 常考“双桨莼波，一蓑松雨，暮愁渐满空阔”以莼波松雨写夜泛；“呼我盟鸥，翩翩欲下”以盟鸥写鸥盟之趣。
Background
Jiang Kui (c.1155-c.1221), courtesy name Yaozhang, studio name Baishi Daoren, was a native of Poyang in Jiangxi who never held office and lived by his art — poetry, calligraphy, and above all music; he even notated the imperial repertoire of lost tunes. His ci set the standard for the 'clear-empty, elegantly subtle' (qingkong yaosu) school, and later anthologists ranked him with Su Shi as a founder of the elegant mode. This Qinggongchun, written on a night journey past the Wu bridges, recalls an earlier boat journey with a beloved singer and returns, as his poems always do, to the question 'where is she now?' — answered only by railing, wave, and a moment's company.
《庆宫春·双桨莼波》为南宋词人姜夔所作词。姜夔（约1155—约1221），字尧章，号白石道人，饶州鄱阳（今江西鄱阳）人，南宋词人、音乐家，词风清空骚雅，开「清雅词派」之先。此词写怀古羁旅。词中「双桨莼波，一蓑松雨，暮愁渐满空阔」写双桨莼波；「呼我盟鸥，翩翩欲下，背人还过木末」写呼我盟鸥；「那回归去，荡云雪、孤舟夜发」写孤舟夜发；「伤心重见，依约眉山，黛痕低压」写依约眉山；「采香径里春寒，老子婆娑，自歌谁答」写采香径里；「垂虹西望，飘然引去，此兴平生难遏」写垂虹西望；「酒醒波远，政凝想、明珰素袜」写凝想明珰；「如今安在，唯有阑干，伴人一霎」写唯有阑干。姜夔此词以怀古羁旅、唯有阑干写其羁旅之情，含蓄空灵，是姜夔词中的名篇。此篇《庆宫春·双桨莼波》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
Jiang Kui's signature is the leap (tiaoyue): the poem refuses narrative and assembles luminous fragments. Dusk sorrow 'fills the open vastness' without any statement of cause; the gulls almost answer and then withdraw, so that even intimacy is staged as near-miss; 'cloud and snow' compresses a night departure into two bright nouns. The emotional pivot is 'bright earrings, white silk feet' — a citation of the goddess of the Luo that appears without introduction, so the reader must supply the remembered beloved. The ending is a masterstroke of reduction: past, journey, goddess, and song are all summed in 'only the railing, with me for a moment,' the phrase 'a moment' letting the whole poem vanish like a wave.
此词艺术上以「含蓄空灵、以景写情」见长。全词上片写双桨莼波与孤舟夜发，下片写垂虹西望与唯有阑干。上片「双桨莼波，一蓑松雨，暮愁渐满空阔」写双桨莼波：双桨莼波，一蓑松雨，暮愁渐满空阔；「呼我盟鸥，翩翩欲下，背人还过木末」写呼我盟鸥：呼我盟鸥，翩翩欲下，背人还过木末；「那回归去，荡云雪、孤舟夜发」写孤舟夜发：那回归去，荡云雪、孤舟夜发；「伤心重见，依约眉山，黛痕低压」写依约眉山：伤心重见，依约眉山，黛痕低压。下片「采香径里春寒，老子婆娑，自歌谁答」写采香径里：采香径里春寒，老子婆娑，自歌谁答；「垂虹西望，飘然引去，此兴平生难遏」写垂虹西望：垂虹西望，飘然引去，此兴平生难遏；「酒醒波远，政凝想、明珰素袜」写凝想明珰：酒醒波远，政凝想、明珰素袜；「如今安在，唯有阑干，伴人一霎」写唯有阑干：如今安在，唯有阑干，伴人一霎。全词含蓄空灵，以景写情，是姜夔词中的名篇。
Allusions
'Water-shield' (chun) is the famous aquatic vegetable of the Wu region, an emblem of homesickness and of the hermit Zhang Han who 'took to his boat' over water-shield broth. 'Befriended gulls' (meng ou) cites Huang Tingjian's 'my heart and the white gulls have made a pact.' 'Eyebrow mountains' uses the Han description of Zhuo Wenjun's brows as distant mountains, and the 'dark traces' (dai hen) are the mountains' own shadowed brows. The 'Fragrance-Gathering Path' on Mount Lingyan in Suzhou was where the Wu king Fuchai's beauties gathered fragrant herbs. 'Rainbow Bridge' (Chuihong) spans the Wu river. 'Bright earrings, white silk feet' is drawn from Cao Zhi's 'Goddess of the Luo': her gleaming earrings and her silk-footed steps upon the waves — a beautiful presence evoked only to be lost.
词中「双桨莼波」「一蓑松雨」「暮愁」「空阔」「盟鸥」「翩翩欲下」「木末」「云雪」「孤舟夜发」「依约眉山」「黛痕低压」「采香径」「婆娑」「自歌谁答」「垂虹」「飘然引去」「此兴平生难遏」「酒醒波远」「明珰素袜」「阑干」等语，皆含典故故实。「双桨莼波」写双桨划于莼菜之波（莼波写水乡莼菜）；「一蓑松雨」写一蓑松雨；「暮愁渐满空阔」写暮愁渐满空阔；「盟鸥」用黄庭坚「万里归船弄长笛，此心吾与白鸥盟」之意，写与鸥为盟；「翩翩欲下」写白鸥翩翩欲下；「木末」写树梢；「云雪」写云雪；「孤舟夜发」写孤舟夜发；「依约眉山」写远山如眉黛（用《西京杂记》卓文君眉色如望远山之意）；「黛痕低压」写黛痕低压；「采香径」用苏州灵岩山采香径（吴王夫差美人采香之径）之典，写采香径；「婆娑」写婆娑起舞；「自歌谁答」写自歌而谁答；「垂虹」写垂虹桥（吴江垂虹桥，姜夔常经之地）；「飘然引去」写飘然而去；「此兴平生难遏」写此兴平生难遏；「酒醒波远」写酒醒波远；「明珰素袜」用曹植《洛神赋》「无微情以效爱兮，献江南之明珰」「凌波微步，罗袜生尘」之意，写明珰素袜；「阑干」写阑干。词人以盟鸥、采香径、垂虹、明珰素袜、依约眉山等语入词，不着痕迹，而把怀古羁旅之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。
Commentary
This lyric is one of the most admired of Jiang Kui's later years. The Qing compilers of the Ci Xuan placed its farewell line among the finest endings in the canon, and the modern critic Xia Chengtao read the whole poem as a nocturnal palimpsest in which three pasts — the journey, the tryst, the goddess — are layered under one present railing. Commentators particularly praise the 'bright earrings, white silk feet' line for summoning Cao Zhi's river goddess without naming her, so that the reader, like the poet, wakes from wine to a memory already dissolving. The poem is the standard exhibit for Jiang Kui's 'clear emptiness': nothing is explained, everything is felt.
这首《庆宫春·双桨莼波》，是姜夔写怀古羁旅之作，写双桨莼波、盟鸥、垂虹西望之情，含蓄空灵。上片写双桨莼波与孤舟夜发：「双桨莼波，一蓑松雨，暮愁渐满空阔」——双桨莼波，一蓑松雨，暮愁渐满空阔。写双桨莼波：双桨莼波、一蓑松雨，暮愁渐满空阔——双桨莼波、一蓑松雨，暮愁满空阔；「呼我盟鸥，翩翩欲下，背人还过木末」——呼我盟鸥，翩翩欲下，背人还过木末。写呼我盟鸥：呼我盟鸥、翩翩欲下，背人还过木末（用与白鸥为盟之意）——盟鸥翩翩欲下、背人过木末；「那回归去，荡云雪、孤舟夜发」——那回归去，荡云雪、孤舟夜发。写孤舟夜发：那回归去、荡云雪、孤舟夜发——忆那回孤舟夜发；「伤心重见，依约眉山，黛痕低压」——伤心重见，依约眉山，黛痕低压。写依约眉山：伤心重见、依约眉山、黛痕低压——重见远山如眉、黛痕低压。下片写垂虹西望与唯有阑干：「采香径里春寒，老子婆娑，自歌谁答」——采香径里春寒，老子婆娑，自歌谁答。写采香径里：采香径里春寒（用灵岩山采香径之典）、老子婆娑，自歌谁答——采香径里春寒、自歌谁答；「垂虹西望，飘然引去，此兴平生难遏」——垂虹西望，飘然引去，此兴平生难遏。写垂虹西望：垂虹西望（写垂虹桥）、飘然引去，此兴平生难遏——垂虹西望、飘然引去；「酒醒波远，政凝想、明珰素袜」——酒醒波远，政凝想、明珰素袜。写凝想明珰：酒醒波远、政凝想、明珰素袜（用洛神明珰素袜之典）——酒醒波远、凝想明珰素袜；「如今安在，唯有阑干，伴人一霎」——如今安在，唯有阑干，伴人一霎。写唯有阑干：如今安在、唯有阑干，伴人一霎——如今安在、唯有阑干伴人一霎。这「如今安在，唯有阑干，伴人一霎」，是全词之结：以唯有阑干写其怅惘。全词含蓄空灵，以景写情，正是姜夔词中的名篇。
Prosody
Line by line
双桨莼波，一蓑松雨，暮愁渐满空阔。
Twin oars trail on the water-shield waves; in a straw cape amid the pine-tree rain, dusk sorrow slowly fills the open vastness.
双桨莼波，一蓑松雨，暮愁渐满空阔。
Two oars on the water-shield waves, one straw cloak in the pine rain; the dusk grief gradually fills the vastness.
首三句写双桨莼波，起笔即见其境。「双桨莼波」写双桨莼波，「双桨」写一双船桨、「莼波」写莼菜之波；「一蓑松雨」写一蓑松雨，「一蓑」写一领蓑衣、「松雨」写松间之雨；「暮愁渐满空阔」写暮愁渐满空阔，「暮愁」写暮色之愁、「渐满空阔」写渐满于空阔之境。三句一写双桨莼波、一写一蓑松雨、一写暮愁渐满空阔，以双桨写舟、以一蓑写人、以暮愁写愁，写尽双桨莼波、一蓑松雨、暮愁满空阔之境。以景起兴，含蓄而空灵，是「以景起兴」的妙笔。
The opening three lines write the two-oar water-shield waves, the realm present at the first stroke. Two oars on the water-shield waves writes the twin oars and the water shield's waves; one straw cloak in the pine rain writes the straw cloak and the pine-borne rain; the dusk grief gradually fills the vastness writes the dusk grief and the gradual filling of the expanse. Three lines, one the oars and boat, one the cloak and man, one the dusk grief, writing the boat through the oars, the man through the cloak, the grief through the dusk, exhausting the oars, cloak, and grief-filled expanse. Rising on scene, restrained and ethereal, precisely the wondrous brush of rising on scene.
呼我盟鸥，翩翩欲下，背人还过木末。
I call to the gulls I befriended — they flutter, about to descend, then turn from me and pass over the treetops.
呼我盟鸥，翩翩欲下，背人还过木末。
Calling me, the sworn gull flutters, about to alight, then turns from the man and crosses the tree-tops.
此三句写呼我盟鸥，是全词写其闲适的关键。「呼我盟鸥」写呼我盟鸥，用与白鸥为盟之意写盟鸥呼我；「翩翩欲下」写翩翩欲下，「翩翩」写翩翩、「欲下」写想要落下；「背人还过木末」写背人还过木末，「背人」写背过人、「还过木末」写又飞过树梢。三句一写呼我盟鸥、一写翩翩欲下、一写背人还过木末，以呼我盟鸥写鸥之为盟、以翩翩欲下写鸥之欲落、以背人过木末写鸥之飞去，写尽盟鸥翩翩、背人过木末之趣。以鸥写趣，含蓄而空灵，是「以鸥写趣」的点睛之笔。
These three lines write the calling me, the sworn gull, the ci's leisure key. Calling me, the sworn gull uses the sworn-white-gull meaning for the gull's calling; flutters, about to alight writes the fluttering and the wishing-to-descend; then turns from the man and crosses the tree-tops writes the back-turning and the re-crossing of the treetops. Three lines, one the calling gull, one the fluttering descent, one the back-turning crossing, writing the gull's alliance through the calling, the gull's descent through the fluttering, the gull's flight through the back-turning, exhausting the gull's fluttering and crossing the treetops. Writing the charm through the gull, restrained and ethereal, precisely the telling stroke of charm-through-gull.
那回归去，荡云雪、孤舟夜发。
That time going home, cleaving cloud and snow, a lone boat set out at night.
那回归去，荡云雪、孤舟夜发。
That time I went home, through the cloud-swell and snow, the lone boat set out at night.
此三句写孤舟夜发，是全词写追忆的关键。「那回归去」写那回归去，「那回」写那一回、「归去」写归去；「荡云雪」写荡云雪，「荡」写荡开、「云雪」写云雪；「孤舟夜发」写孤舟夜发，「孤舟」写孤舟、「夜发」写夜里出发。三句一写那回归去、一写荡云雪、一写孤舟夜发，以那回写追忆、以荡云雪写舟荡云雪、以孤舟夜发写夜发，写尽那回归去、荡云雪中孤舟夜发之情。以忆写情，含蓄而空灵，是「以忆写情」的点睛之笔。
These three lines write the lone boat's night departure, the ci's memory key. That time I went home writes that time and the returning; through the cloud-swell and snow writes the swelled cloud snow; the lone boat set out at night writes the lone boat and the night departure. Three lines, one that time's return, one the cloud-swell, one the night departure, writing the memory through the that time, the boat through the cloud-swell, the night departure through the lone boat, exhausting the that-time return through the cloud-snow's night departure. Writing feeling through memory, restrained and ethereal, precisely the telling stroke of feeling-through-memory.
如今安在，唯有阑干，伴人一霎。
Where are they now? Only the railing remains, keeping me company for a moment.
如今安在，唯有阑干，伴人一霎。
Where is it now? Only the railing, accompanying the man for a moment.
尾三句写唯有阑干，是全词立意的落点。「如今安在」写如今安在，「如今」写如今、「安在」写在何处；「唯有阑干」写唯有阑干，「唯有」写只有、「阑干」写栏杆；「伴人一霎」写伴人一霎，「伴人」写陪伴着人、「一霎」写一刹那。三句一写如今安在、一写唯有阑干、一写伴人一霎，以如今安在写其渺茫、以唯有阑干写其唯余、以伴人一霎写其短暂，写尽如今安在、唯有阑干伴人一霎之情。以问写情，含蓄而空灵，是全词最动人处，也是「以问写情」的点睛之笔。
The last three lines write the only railing, the landing of the ci's theme. Where is it now? writes the now and the where; only the railing writes the only and the railing; accompanying the man for a moment writes the accompanying and the moment. Three lines, one the where-now, one the only railing, one the moment's company, writing the blur through the where-now, the remaining through the only, the brief through the moment, exhausting the where-now and the railing's moment's company. Writing feeling through the question, restrained and ethereal, the ci's most moving place, and the telling stroke of feeling-through-question.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Yan Shu's sorrow is warm with longing for a distant lover; Jiang Kui's dusk sorrow is colder, thinner, dissolved into gull calls and snow-lit waves. The same spring water, two temperatures of grief.
晏殊《蝶恋花·槛菊愁烟兰泣露》「槛菊愁烟兰泣露。罗幕轻寒，燕子双飞去」，写秋景离愁、含蓄深婉，是宋词写愁的名篇；姜夔《庆宫春》则以「双桨莼波，一蓑松雨，暮愁渐满空阔」「呼我盟鸥，翩翩欲下，背人还过木末」写双桨莼波、暮愁渐满。两词同写水波春色、闲愁渐起：一写槛菊愁烟兰泣露、以菊烟写愁，一写双桨莼波暮愁渐满空阔、以暮愁写愁；一为晏殊之温润、一为姜夔之清空，并读正可见宋词写「闲愁」的两种笔法，皆于景中见闲愁。
山园小梅 Little Plum Tree in the Mountain Garden 林逋 · 同写超然自适、清雅独处，一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、一写采香径里春寒老子婆娑自歌谁答，皆于清幽之中见自适 Both celebrate serene self-possession — Lin Bu's plum with 'sparse shadows slanting across clear shallow water,' Jiang Kui's old man dancing and singing alone in the cold Fragrance-Gathering Path.Lin Bu's hermit-plum never marries or serves; Jiang Kui's 'who answers my song' is the same proud solitude made lonelier by wandering. One keeps a garden, the other keeps only a boat — two Song-dynasty faces of the gentleman who dwells apart.
林逋《山园小梅》「疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏」，写梅之清雅、隐居之趣，是宋诗咏梅的绝唱；姜夔《庆宫春》则以「采香径里春寒，老子婆娑，自歌谁答」「酒醒波远，政凝想、明珰素袜」写采香径里、自歌谁答。两词同写超然自适、清雅独处：一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、以梅写清，一写采香径里春寒老子婆娑自歌谁答、以自歌写适；一为林逋之清逸、一为姜夔之清空，并读正可见宋代写「清雅自适」的两种笔法，皆于清幽之中见自适。