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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

写情

Writing of My Feeling

李益

Li Yi

水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休。
从此无心爱良夜，任他明月下西楼。

On the patterned precious mat my thoughts stretch long and long,
A tryst promised for a thousand li is broken in a single night.
From this day on I have no heart for lovely nights,
Let the bright moon sink as it will below the western tower.
Listen

Meaning

A poem of disappointed love, composed after a promised meeting failed. Lying on the finely woven precious mat, the speaker's thoughts run endlessly; a rendezvous for which one would have traveled a thousand li is ended in a single evening. Henceforth he has no heart to enjoy beautiful nights — let the bright moon sink below the western tower as it pleases. The poem turns heartbreak into a gesture of cold, proud indifference.

水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休。从此无心爱良夜，任他明月下西楼。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] On the water-patterned precious mat my longing stretches endlessly; a fair tryst a thousand li away is undone in one night. From now on I care no more for lovely nights — I let the bright moon go down behind the western tower as it will. [Structure and Thought] The quatrain moves from the material scene (the mat) to the broken promise, then to a vow of indifference and finally to the moon sinking. Each step withdraws the speaker further from the world of feeling into deliberate coolness. [Key Technique] The art is in the restraint: the cause of the break is never named, the grief is never stated — instead the speaker simply abandons the moon and the lovely night, a gesture that implies the wound without exposing it. [Emotional Tone] Cold, clipped, almost defiant — the 'cold brilliance' (ling-juan) for which Li Yi's love poems are famous; the indifference is itself the most eloquent confession of pain.

【白话串讲】 李益写《写情》：“水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休”——“从此无心爱良夜，任他明月下西楼”——他写情——任他明月下西楼。 【意象与手法】 “水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休”写思悠悠；“从此无心爱良夜”写无心爱良夜；结以“任他明月下西楼”以任他明月写失恋。冷隽抒情。 【情感与主旨】 李益写失恋抒情之作，写千里佳期一夕休、从此无心爱良夜的痴情，是写失恋的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休”写佳期一夕休；“从此无心爱良夜，任他明月下西楼”写失恋痴情。

Background

Li Yi (746–829), courtesy name Junyu, from Gucang, Longxi, was a Tang poet best known for his frontier verse; he also wrote some of the most memorable poems of love and separation in the language. This quatrain, one of his most famous, belongs to his love lyrics: the 'precious mat with water pattern' places the scene in an elegant bedchamber, and the abrupt 'a single night' collapse of a long-planned meeting leaves the speaker with nothing but cold defiance. The poem has been treasured for its perfect economy — four lines that say everything by saying almost nothing.

《写情》为唐代诗人李益所作诗。李益（746—829），字君虞，陇西姑臧人，唐代诗人，以边塞诗著称。此诗写失恋抒情，为失意之作。诗中「水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休」写水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休；「从此无心爱良夜，任他明月下西楼」写从此无心爱良夜，任他明月下西楼。李益此诗以失恋抒情、任他明月下西楼写其抒情之情，冷隽抒情，是李益诗中的名篇。此篇《写情》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。此篇《写情》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。此篇《写情》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 poem's art lies in its controlled descent into indifference. The first line establishes luxury and longing: the water-patterned precious mat, thoughts 'long, long.' The second line strikes the blow: a tryst measured in a thousand li is destroyed in one evening — the disproportion between the two measurements is itself the tragedy. The third line turns away: 'no heart for lovely nights.' The fourth lets the moon sink 'as it will,' the gesture of a man who has ceased to care even for the most beautiful of natural sights. The coolness of the final image — the moon going down behind the western tower — is the poem's signature: grief disguised as surrender.

此诗艺术上以「冷隽抒情、以簟写情」见长。全诗共四句两联，由水纹珍簟思悠悠而从此无心爱良夜。起「水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休」写水纹珍簟思悠悠：水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休；结「从此无心爱良夜，任他明月下西楼」写从此无心爱良夜：从此无心爱良夜，任他明月下西楼。全诗以簟写情，由水纹珍簟思悠悠而任他明月下西楼，冷隽抒情，是李益诗中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

The 'precious mat' (zhendian) is the elegant woven bamboo mat of a fine bedchamber, a standard property of love poems. The 'water pattern' (shuiwen) on the mat quietly evokes the flowing and mutable, hinting at the instability of the feeling itself. 'The western tower' is a conventional site of parting and moonlit waiting in Tang verse — the tower from which lovers watch the moon; to let the moon sink there 'as it will' is to abandon the very theater of longing.

诗中「水纹珍簟思悠悠千里佳期一夕休」「从此无心爱良夜任他明月下西楼」等语，皆含典故故实。「水纹珍簟思悠悠千里佳期一夕休」用珍簟之典（珍簟写华美竹席），写水纹珍簟思悠悠千里佳期一夕休；「从此无心爱良夜任他明月下西楼」写从此无心爱良夜任他明月下西楼。诗人用珍簟之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把失恋抒情之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

Li Yi's quatrain is one of the supreme examples of Tang love poetry in the 'cold and bright' mode. The famous closing line — 'Let the bright moon sink as it will below the western tower' — has been quoted for over a thousand years as the perfect expression of love's aftermath: the moment when a heart, too hurt to feel, dismisses even the moon. Critics admire how the poem refuses every resource of self-pity, achieving its effect by renunciation rather than lament.

这首《写情》，是李益写失恋抒情之作，写水纹珍簟思悠悠、从此无心爱良夜、任他明月下西楼之情，冷隽抒情。起「水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休」——水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休。写水纹珍簟思悠悠：水纹珍簟思悠悠、千里佳期一夕休——思悠悠、一夕休；结「从此无心爱良夜，任他明月下西楼」——从此无心爱良夜，任他明月下西楼。写从此无心爱良夜：从此无心爱良夜、任他明月下西楼——爱良夜、下西楼。这「从此无心爱良夜，任他明月下西楼」，是全诗之结：以任他明月下西楼写其抒情。全诗冷隽抒情，以簟写情，正是李益诗中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (qijue)诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme The poem rhymes on the level-tone words 'xiu' (to end) and 'lou' (tower) in the you rhyme group, from the second to the fourth line in the standard quatrain pattern.此诗为七言绝句，共四句两联。押韵：「休」「楼」押尤部韵。前两句起、后两句转合，平仄相间，正与写失恋抒情的冷隽抒情相称，也见其以七绝写抒情的凝练。
Tone pattern The first line is slow and level, weighted by 'long, long'; the second strikes with the abrupt 'in a single night'; the third turns flat and final; the fourth trails off in the cool, unresisting cadence of the moon sinking.句式上，「水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休」写水纹珍簟思悠悠，音节冷隽；结「从此无心爱良夜，任他明月下西楼」写从此无心爱良夜，音节悠长。全诗音节随情起伏，由冷隽而悠长，正合七绝「凝练」之妙，读来如失恋抒情、任他明月下西楼之音，冷隽而动人。
Reading note This is a seven-character quatrain by Li Yi, the frontier poet who was also the master of the exquisite love poem. The first line broods on the precious mat with thoughts stretching long; the second states the broken tryst flatly; the third refuses the lovely night; and the fourth lets the moon sink without a word of appeal — the quatrain's power lies in its refusal, the grief that will not even accuse.此诗为七言绝句，是李益写失恋抒情之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「冷隽抒情、以簟写情」：「水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休」写水纹珍簟思悠悠、「从此无心爱良夜，任他明月下西楼」写从此无心爱良夜。全诗冷隽抒情，以簟写情。尤为精妙者，是「水纹珍簟思悠悠」用珍簟之典；而「任他明月下西楼」写尽下西楼，正是李益诗「冷隽抒情」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《写情》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休。

On the patterned precious mat my thoughts stretch long and long; a tryst promised for a thousand li is broken in a single night.

水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休。

On the water-patterned precious mat, longing stretches on; a tryst of a thousand li is ended in one night.

起句写水纹珍簟思悠悠，起笔即见其珍簟。「水纹珍簟思悠悠」用珍簟之典写水纹珍簟思悠悠，「水纹珍簟」写水纹珍簟、「思悠悠」写思悠悠；「千里佳期一夕休」写千里佳期一夕休，「千里佳期」写千里佳期、「一夕休」写一夕休。一句写水纹珍簟思悠悠千里佳期一夕休，以水纹珍簟思悠悠写思悠悠、以千里佳期一夕休写一夕休，写尽水纹珍簟思悠悠、千里佳期一夕休之情。以簟起兴，冷隽而抒情，是「以簟起兴」的妙笔。

The opening writes longing on the water-patterned mat, the mat named at the first stroke. On the water-patterned precious mat, longing stretches on: the fine mat with water ripples, longing unending. A tryst of a thousand li is ended in one night: the promised meeting a thousand li away cancelled in a single evening. One line writes the endless longing on the mat, the other the tryst's sudden end - Li Yi's starting point for writing feeling: longing stretched, tryst broken. The line opens with the mat as bi-xing, cold yet lyrical: the mat's cool water pattern, and on it the thousand-li tryst ending in one night, the cold setting off the loss.

从此无心爱良夜，

From this day on I have no heart for lovely nights,

从此无心爱良夜，

From now on I have no heart to love fine nights,

此句写从此无心爱良夜，是全诗写无心之态的关键。「从此无心」写从此无心，「从此」写从此、「无心」写无心；「爱良夜」写爱良夜，「爱」写爱、「良夜」写良夜。一句写从此无心爱良夜，以从此无心写无心、以爱良夜写爱良夜，写尽从此无心爱良夜之情。以心写情，冷隽而抒情，是「以心写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

This line writes from now on no heart to love fine nights, the key to the poem's heart-less state. From now on writes the turning point: henceforth, no heart. Love fine nights: loving fair nights is gone. One line writes the will turned away from fine nights - after the tryst's ending, no heart left for beauty. The line uses the heart to write feeling, cold yet lyrical, hiding waves within plain words: no heart to love is not indifference but the exhaustion of love - the aftermath of a broken tryst.

任他明月下西楼。

Let the bright moon sink as it will below the western tower.

任他明月下西楼。

let the bright moon go down beyond the west tower.

结句写任他明月下西楼，是全诗立意的落点。「任他明月」写任他明月，「任他」写任他、「明月」写明月；「下西楼」写下西楼，「下」写下、「西楼」写西楼。一句写任他明月下西楼，以任他明月写明月、以下西楼写下西楼，写尽任他明月下西楼之情。以月写情，冷隽而抒情，是全诗最动人处，也是「以月写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

The closing writes letting the bright moon go down beyond the west tower, the poem's landing. Let the bright moon: letting the moon be. Go down beyond the west tower: the moon setting past the west tower. One line writes abandoning the moon to its setting - the man who once watched the moon with the beloved now lets it sink without care. The line uses the moon to write feeling, cold yet lyrical, the poem's most moving point: the moon still bright, the heart gone; indifference as the deepest grief.

Study

Word focus

珍簟 'The precious mat' — the fine woven mat of the bed, the setting of the sleepless brooding. 「珍簟」写水纹珍簟思悠悠，是写珍簟之态的关键。「水纹珍簟思悠悠」着一「珍簟」，写珍簟——着一「珍簟」，写水纹珍簟思悠悠，见其簟之珍。两字写尽珍簟之态，是「以词写簟」的妙笔。「珍簟」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
佳期 'The fair tryst' — the promised meeting, broken in a single night. 「佳期」写千里佳期一夕休，是写佳期之态的关键。「千里佳期一夕休」着一「佳期」，写佳期——着一「佳期」，写千里佳期一夕休，见其期之佳。两字写尽佳期之态，是「以词写期」的点睛之词。「佳期」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
良夜 'The lovely nights' — the fine nights the heart can no longer love. 「良夜」写从此无心爱良夜，是写良夜之态的关键。「从此无心爱良夜」着一「良夜」，写良夜——着一「良夜」，写从此无心爱良夜，见其夜之良。两字写尽良夜之态，是「以词写夜」的点睛之词。「良夜」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
明月 'The bright moon' — the moon of the lovely night, left to sink as it will. 「明月」写任他明月下西楼，是写明月之态的关键。「任他明月下西楼」着一「明月」，写明月——着一「明月」，写任他明月下西楼，见其月之明。两字写尽明月之态，是「以词写月」的点睛之词。「明月」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

水调歌头·明月几时有 Prelude to Water Melody: When Did the Bright Moon Begin? 苏轼 · 同写抒情感怀、冷隽旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写水纹珍簟思悠悠千里佳期一夕休，皆于抒情之中见冷隽 Both poems face the bright moon with the broken heart — Su Shi's philosophical consolation, Li Yi's flat refusal of the lovely night.

Su Shi's 'Prelude to Water Melody' turns the moonlit night into the great consolation of the turning world; Li Yi's 'Writing of My Feeling' refuses the lovely night entirely — the moon may sink as it will, for the heart is done with beauty. The two are the philosophical and the desolate answers to the same moon.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全」，写抒情感怀、冷隽旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；李益《写情》则以「水纹珍簟思悠悠，千里佳期一夕休」「任他明月下西楼」写一夕休、下西楼。两诗同写抒情感怀、冷隽旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写水纹珍簟思悠悠千里佳期一夕休、以珍簟写抒情；一为苏轼之旷达、一为李益之冷隽，并读正可见诗写「抒情感怀」的两种笔法，皆于抒情之中见冷隽。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Eight Beats of Ganzhou: Facing the Evening Rain That Spatters the Long River 柳永 · 同写西楼凝望、冷隽清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写从此无心爱良夜任他明月下西楼，皆于西楼之中见凝望 Both are the broken promise and the long thought — Liu Yong's evening rain and homesickness, Li Yi's broken tryst and loveless night.

Liu Yong's 'Eight Beats of Ganzhou' — 'I cannot bear to lean on the rail and gaze far' — is the slow lyric of the broken heart and the long thought; Li Yi's quatrain is the compressed version, the fair tryst broken and the lovely nights refused in four lines.

柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋」，写西楼凝望、冷隽清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；李益《写情》则以「从此无心爱良夜，任他明月下西楼」「水纹珍簟思悠悠」写下西楼、思悠悠。两诗同写西楼凝望、冷隽清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写从此无心爱良夜任他明月下西楼、以明月写抒情；一为柳永之清丽、一为李益之冷隽，并读正可见诗写「西楼凝望」的两种笔法，皆于西楼之中见凝望。