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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

鹊桥仙·纤云弄巧

Immortal at the Magpie Bridge · Thin Clouds Make Clever Patterns

秦观

Qin Guan

爱情Love 七夕Qixi Festival 婉约Graceful and restrained

纤云弄巧，飞星传恨，银汉迢迢暗度。
金风玉露一相逢，便胜却人间无数。
柔情似水，佳期如梦，忍顾鹊桥归路。
两情若是久长时，又岂在朝朝暮暮。

Thin clouds make clever patterns, shooting stars convey grief.
Across the Silver River vast, they secretly cross the bridge.
When autumn wind and white dew meet but once a year,
It surpasses countless meetings among mortals.
Tender love flows like water; happy moments fade like dreams.
How can they bear to look back at the Magpie Bridge's return path?
If two hearts are forever true,
Why need they stay together day and night?

Listen

Meaning

The poem describes the annual meeting of the Cowherd and Weaver Maid across the Milky Way, emphasizing that their single encounter surpasses countless mortal meetings. It then portrays their tender love and the pain of parting, concluding with the philosophical insight that true love endures beyond physical togetherness.

纤细的云彩变幻出巧妙的图样，飞驰的流星传递着离恨，银河迢迢，牛郎织女在暗夜里悄悄度越。秋风白露中一年的这一次相逢，便胜过人间无数寻常的聚首。柔情如流水般缠绵，佳期似梦境般短暂，怎忍心回头去看那鹊桥归去的路。两情若是能够久长坚定，又何必在乎朝朝暮暮的相守。

Appreciation

This poem is a masterpiece on the Qixi theme. It breaks away from the traditional lament of separation by elevating love into a spiritual bond that transcends time and space. The imagery is delicate and the language elegant, with the final couplet becoming a timeless aphorism of love.

【白话串讲】牛郎织女一年才见一次，秦观却说：“两情若是久长时，又岂在朝朝暮暮”——把异地恋写成了最浪漫的哲学。这首词，是七夕最动听的辩词。【意象与手法】上片写景空灵：“纤云弄巧，飞星传恨”以拟人赋云星以情态，“银汉迢迢暗度”一笔写尽一年孤盼【情感与主旨】秦观为北宋婉约词正宗，此词借牛郎织女七夕相会的古老传说为题，却一反历来咏七夕的悲怨格调【名句点睛】常考此词末二句“两情若是久长时，又岂在朝朝暮暮”的意境升华（重精神久长而非朝暮相聚），及其跳出离愁旧调的旷达襟怀

Background

Qin Guan, a representative of the graceful and restrained school of the Northern Song dynasty, wrote this poem based on the legend of the Cowherd and Weaver Maid. Unlike the usual sorrowful treatment of the Qixi story, he transforms the parting into a celebration of enduring love. The poem likely reflects his own experiences of separation and longing during his official career.

秦观（一〇四九—一一〇〇），字少游，号淮海居士，高邮人，北宋婉约词正宗，苏门四学士之一，词风清丽婉约，情韵兼胜。《鹊桥仙·纤云弄巧》借牛郎织女七夕相会的古老传说为题，约作于其平生游寓或贬谪期间，具体年月难确考。词所咏七夕，源于《诗经·小雅·大东》对织女、牵牛星宿的记载，至汉魏《古诗十九首·迢迢牵牛星》与民间传说合流，牛女一年一度鹊桥相会的故事遂成文学母题。历来咏七夕者多写聚少离多之悲怨，秦观此词却一反旧调，于悲中翻出旷达，以「两情若是久长时，又岂在朝朝暮暮」升华题意。就文学传统而言，七夕诗词自唐人（如杜牧《秋夕》、李商隐《辛未七夕》）已然成大宗，秦观以婉约之笔、理趣之思写之，别开生面。版本上，此词异文不多，暗度一本作暗渡（度、渡通），今从通行本暗度。其以翻案立骨，遂成七夕词之千古定评。秦观此词虽咏仙凡之恋，实以士大夫之旷达胸襟写情；于浓艳七夕题中别立清境，遂使此调脱去晚唐绮靡，而具理趣之高格与远韵。

Art

The upper stanza uses personification (clouds 'playing tricks', meteors 'conveying hatred') and stark contrasts ('one meeting' vs. 'countless worldly meetings'). The lower stanza employs metaphors ('love like water', 'dreamlike moments') and ends with a philosophical question that overturns conventional farewell sentiments.

此词艺术之妙，在于空灵之景与旷达之理的融合，以及反套路的立意。上片写景空灵：纤云弄巧，飞星传恨，银汉迢迢暗度，以拟人赋云星以情态，弄巧写云之变幻，传恨写星之驰送，暗度一笔写尽一年孤盼之幽会。下片由景入情：金风玉露一相逢，便胜却人间无数，以秋风的清露反衬相逢之珍；柔情似水，佳期如梦，忍顾鹊桥归路，以水性梦境写情之缠绵与期之短暂。结二句两情若是久长时，又岂在朝朝暮暮，由情入理，将离愁翻为旷达，立意高出历来悲怨之作。章法上，景、情、理三层递进，由天上而人间、由相聚而别路、由离恨而久长，疏密有致。修辞多用比喻（似水、如梦）与对比（一相逢胜却无数、久长与朝暮）。其以理趣破悲怨，是宋词婉约中见思辨的范例。上片清空如画，下片情理由情入理，景、情、理三层递嬗，不粘不脱；以淡语写深致，空灵中含坚挚，是淮海词情韵兼胜的极致表现。

Allusions

The poem alludes to the legend of Niulang and Zhinv, which originated in the Han dynasty folk song 'Far, Far Away the Cowherd Star' and the Qixi story. 'Gold wind and white dew' echoes Li Shangyin's poem 'On Qixi'. The final couplet inverts the traditional sorrow of separation, presenting a new ideal of love.

词中皆本牛女传说与古典意象。纤云弄巧暗用织女「纤纤擢素手，札札弄机杼」之巧，弄巧写云如机杼所织；飞星传恨化用流星为离恨之使的想象；银汉即银河，迢迢本于《古诗十九首》「迢迢牵牛星」。暗度写牛女一年一度夜渡银河，鹊桥之设出《风俗通》「织女七夕当渡河，使鹊为桥」之说。金风玉露本于李商隐《辛未七夕》「由来碧落银河畔，可要金风玉露时」，以秋风白露代指七夕时令；秦观反其悲意而为珍重。柔情似水化用李白「流水无情」及唐人以水喻情之习；佳期如梦用《楚辞》「与佳期兮夕张」及后世佳期指男女之约。朝朝暮暮出宋玉《高唐赋》「旦为朝云，暮为行雨」，本写巫山神女，后泛指日夜相守。全词用典融化无痕，是婉约正宗手笔。其点化前人，如水中着盐，了无痕迹。纤云、飞星、银汉、金风玉露、朝朝暮暮，皆本牛女传说与古典情语；经少游熔铸，翻出新意，使陈旧母题焕发哲理之光，点化之功极深。

Commentary

Song dynasty critic Zhang Yan praised it for its 'refined and natural' style, while modern scholar Kuang Zhouyi considered Qin Guan the orthodox master of the graceful school. This poem, with its rational yet lyrical power, stands as a paradigm of love poetry.

此词历来被誉为咏七夕的绝唱，亦秦观婉约词中兼具理趣的典范。自宋以来，评者多以「化臭腐为神奇」赞其翻案之妙，清人冯煦《宋六十一家词选》称少游词「寓意高远」。结句「两情若是久长时，又岂在朝朝暮暮」尤被推为爱情哲理的千古名句，跳出离愁旧调，重精神久长而非朝暮相聚，对后世爱情观影响深远，现代更常作为坚贞爱情的箴言。此词因意境空灵、立意旷达，历来入选总集与教材，传播极广。在经典地位上，它与《踏莎行·雾失楼台》一写旷达一写凄迷，共见秦观词风的两面；而论七夕题材之翻新，则足与杜牧《秋夕》、李清照《行香子·七夕》并峙，而以其理趣升华独标一格。学者论秦词，多以「情韵兼胜」许之，此篇情与理兼到，是其说之的证。结句久长岂在朝暮，已成华夏爱情观之箴言，流传民间逾千年；其以理胜情、以旷济悲的格局，至今仍为书写坚贞情谊的至高范式与共识。

Prosody

Form 鹊桥仙 tune, double stanzas, 56 characters, oblique rhyme词（小令）·《鹊桥仙》

Rhyme 度, 数, 路, 暮 (du, shu, lu, mu)此词上下片皆押仄声韵，度、数、路、暮等同叶仄韵，声情清婉而略带掩抑，与七夕幽会之题相协。

Tone pattern Upper stanza: narrative; lower stanza: emotional and philosophical; last couplet in prose-like argument双调五十六字，上下片各五句两仄韵，句式以四、四、六错落，平仄协调，宜于写清空婉转之情。

Reading note The poem moves from scene to feeling to reason, a typical structure in Qin Guan's regulated lyric.《鹊桥仙》为双调小令，句式整饬而略带变化，最宜写七夕幽会、清空婉转之情。秦观此词上下片对称，上片由云星暗度写相会之景，下片由相逢胜却转入久长之理数，结构由景及情、由情入理。押韵上，全词落于仄声韵，声情清婉掩抑，与牛女幽会、别路忍顾之调相协。平仄方面，四字句（纤云弄巧）与四字句（飞星传恨）相对起拍，节奏轻灵；继以六字句铺展，至结句两情若是久长时，又岂在朝朝暮暮以七言振起作理语收束，声吻疏朗而意致高远。整体格律与内容相生，是以声调助空灵、以结句理趣破悲怨的典范，亦见秦观婉约词熔景、情、理于一炉的独诣。其韵清而理远，声与意俱高。

Line by line

纤云弄巧，飞星传恨，银汉迢迢暗度。

Personification sets a sorrowful tone for the secret meeting; 'secretly cross' conveys the melancholy and rarity of their encounter.

纤细的云彩变幻出巧妙的图样，飞驰的流星传递着离恨，银河迢迢，牛郎织女在暗夜里悄悄度越。

The fine clouds display their clever patterns, the shooting star carries the grief; across the distant Silver River they secretly cross.

起三句写七夕之夜的空灵之景，亦神话之铺展。纤云弄巧以拟人赋云以巧思，暗应织女之织；飞星传恨写流星如信使驰送离恨，弄与传二字使云星皆具情态。银汉迢迢暗度以迢迢写银河之远、暗度写幽会之隐，一笔收尽牛女一年孤盼、终得相聚的幽微。这三句不写人间而写天上，设色清空，为下片金风玉露的相逢蓄势。其景语中已含情语——弄巧见期盼、传恨见离愁、暗度见幽会，是为情景交融的起笔典范。其空灵之笔，已开北宋词清空一脉之先声。

The opening three lines write the Qixi night's ethereal scene, and the myth's unfolding. The fine clouds display their clever patterns personifying the clouds with clever art, secretly answering the Weaver Girl's weaving; the shooting star carries the grief writing the meteor like the messenger speeding the parting grief, the two words display and carry endowing the clouds and stars with mood. Across the distant Silver River they secretly cross using the distant for the Milky Way's far, the secretly-crossing for the tryst's secrecy, one brush exhausting the Cowherd and Weaver's year-long lone waiting and the tryst's delicacy. These three lines not writing the human world but the heaven, the coloring clear and void, storing the force for the second stanza's autumn-wind-and-jade-dew meeting. Their scenic words already carry the feeling words — the clever patterns the expectation, the carried grief the parting sorrow, the secret crossing the tryst, precisely the scene-feeling-fused opening model. Their ethereal brush already opening the Northern Song ci's clear-and-void vein's first sound.

金风玉露一相逢，便胜却人间无数。

Contrast between one celestial meeting and countless mundane ones, elevating the purity of their love.

秋风白露中一年的这一次相逢，便胜过人间无数寻常的聚首。

One meeting in the autumn wind and the jade dew, and it outvalues countless earthly gatherings.

此句为上片结，亦全词立意之第一次升华。金风玉露本为秋之风露，此处以清贵之物代指七夕相逢的环境，反衬其珍重；一相逢以数量之少强调相聚之稀。最著在便胜却人间无数，写牛女一年一度的相会，因历经一年孤盼，其情之深、其会之珍，竟胜过人间无数寻常的耳鬓厮守。这一翻案将离恨化为珍贵，一扫历来七夕悲怨的旧调，为结尾的旷达哲理张本。以少胜多、以稀为贵的辩证法，正是秦观婉约中见理趣的妙处。其翻案之笔，实为全篇精神所系。

This line is the first stanza's close, and the whole ci's theme's first sublimation. The autumn wind and the jade dew by nature the autumn wind and dew, here using the noble things for the Qixi meeting's environment, setting off their preciousness; the one meeting using the number's smallness for the rarity. The most noted in the outvalues countless earthly gatherings, writing the Cowherd and Weaver's yearly meeting, because of the year-long lone waiting, the feeling's depth and the meeting's preciousness, outvaluing the countless ordinary earthly ear-to-ear keeping. This reversal turning the parting grief into preciousness, sweeping away the ages' Qixi grief-and-resentment old tune, storing the ground for the close's detached philosophy. The few-over-the-many and the rare-as-precious dialectic, precisely Qin Guan's graceful-within-reason-wonder wonder. Its reversal brush, truly the whole piece's spirit's lodgment.

柔情似水，佳期如梦，忍顾鹊桥归路。

Metaphors of 'water' and 'dreams' emphasize tender love and fleeting happiness; 'bear to look back' shows deep reluctance to part.

柔情如流水般缠绵，佳期似梦境般短暂，怎忍心回头去看那鹊桥归去的路。

The tender feeling is like water, the fair time like a dream; how can I bear to look back at the magpie-bridge road home?

下片前三句由相聚之珍转入别路之哀。柔情似水以流水喻情之缠绵不绝，佳期如梦以梦境喻期之短暂易逝，两喻一写质一写态，将相聚的美好与易逝并写。忍顾鹊桥归路以不忍回头看归路，写别时之眷恋与无奈——鹊桥既是来路亦是归路，忍顾二字见出不愿面对分离的凄楚。这三句由情之柔、期之短，跌入路之悲，使上片的旷达至此稍挫，为结尾的再次振起蓄势。景情相生，哀而不伤，是婉约笔法的精纯体现。其顿挫之致，使结句之旷达更显有力。

The second stanza's first three lines from the meeting's preciousness turning to the parting-road grief. The tender feeling is like water figuring the feeling's lingering through the flowing water, the fair time like a dream figuring the tryst's briefness through the dream, the two metaphors one writing the quality and one the posture, the meeting's beauty and fragility together. How can I bear to look back at the magpie-bridge road home? writing the parting-time's clinging and helplessness through the unbearable backward glance — the magpie bridge at once the coming road and the going road, the how-can-I-bear seeing the un-facing-the-parting anguish. These three lines from the feeling's tenderness and the tryst's shortness, falling into the road's grief, making the first stanza's detachment here slightly checked, storing the force for the close's rising again. Scene and feeling mutually born, grief without injury, the graceful brush's purest embodiment. Its pause's posture, making the close's detachment the more forceful.

两情若是久长时，又岂在朝朝暮暮。

Philosophical reversal: true love does not require constant physical togetherness; timeless aphorism.

两情若是能够久长坚定，又何必在乎朝朝暮暮的相守。

If two hearts' love endures forever, what need of morning by morning and evening by evening?

结二句为全词之睛，亦千古爱情哲理的绝唱。由上文的别路之悲急转，提出两情若是久长时，又岂在朝朝暮暮朝的旷达之问。它跳出了聚少离多的表层哀怨，将爱情的价值由朝暮相聚的形迹，升华为久长坚定的精神相守。这一翻案使全词由离愁升格为爱情哲学，立意高出历来同题之作。朝朝暮暮本于宋玉《高唐赋》巫山神女之典，秦观反其意而用之，重神交而轻形聚。此句以理趣收束，余韵悠长，千载而下仍为坚贞爱情之箴言。其理致之深，足掩百家之作。

The closing two lines are the whole ci's eye, and a love-philosophy swan song through the ages. From the above parting-road grief's sudden turn, raising the if-two-hearts'-love-endures-forever, what-need-of-morning-by-morning-and-evening-by-evening detached question. It leaps out of the few-gatherings-many-partings surface grief, raising the love's value from the morning-evening togetherness's form, to the long-enduring spiritual keeping. This reversal raising the whole ci from the parting sorrow to the love philosophy, the theme loftier than the ages' same-subject works. The morning-by-morning-and-evening-by-evening from Song Yu's Gaotang Rhapsody's Wushan goddess allusion, Qin Guan reversing the meaning, weighing the spiritual communion lightly and the physical gathering. This line closing on reason-wonder, the aftertone long, through the ages still the steadfast love's maxim. Its reason's depth, enough to cover the hundred schools' works.

Study

Word focus

弄巧 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 纤云弄巧之弄巧二字，是起笔赋云以情态的妙笔。弄本为把玩、摆弄，巧指机巧，此处写云霞变幻如同织女在云机上织出巧妙的图样，既暗应牛女传说中织女之织，又以拟人赋予云以灵动的生命。一个弄字，将无情的云化为有情的天工，呼应「纤纤擢素手，札札弄机杼」的古典意象。弄巧不仅写出七夕云天的清丽，更暗含对一年一度佳期的期盼与庆幸，是以景写情、融化典故于无形的范例。其字轻而意远，是婉约炼字的典型。

胜却 surpasses; 'victory' over mundane love, highlighting the preciousness of their union. 便胜却人间无数之胜却，是全词第一次翻案的关键动词。胜却即胜过、超过，写牛女一年一度的相逢，因饱经孤盼而情深意重，竟超越人间无数寻常的朝暮相聚。一个胜字，将「少」与「多」、「稀」与「常」的价值颠倒，使离恨化为珍贵，是秦观婉约词中理趣思维的发力点。它与结尾久长胜朝暮的逻辑一脉贯通，共同构成对七夕悲怨传统的反拨。以寻常动词担起全词立意之转，是炼字见意的范例。其翻案之力，全在此一字之转。

久长 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 两情若是久长时之久长，是结句立意的核心词，亦全词哲理的落脚点。久长与朝朝暮暮形成时间维度上的对照：朝暮是短暂的形聚，久长是恒久的神交。秦观以久长二字将爱情的价值标准由空间之聚（朝暮相守）转为时间之恒（久长坚定），从而超越离恨、升华主题。久长一词质朴无华，却因置于全词结穴之处，承载了千载爱情箴言的重量，是以平易语写深永理的典范，亦见婉约词亦可具理趣。其辞淡而旨远，最耐寻味。