宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
天仙子·水调数声持酒听
Song of the Immortal in Heaven · Listening to Water Melody with Wine
水调数声持酒听，午醉醒来愁未醒。
送春春去几时回？
临晚镜，伤流景，往事后期空记省。
沙上并禽池上暝，云破月来花弄影。
重重帘幕密遮灯，风不定，人初静，明日落红应满径。
Awake from noon drunk, yet sorrow still unawake.
Seeing off spring, when will spring return?
At dusk before the mirror, I grieve for fleeting time.
Past events and future promises—all in vain I recall.
On the sand, paired birds rest in the pool’s dusk.
Clouds parted, the moon appears, flowers play with shadows.
Layer after layer of curtains tightly shield the lamp.
The wind unsettled, people just quiet,
Tomorrow fallen reds should fill the path.
Meaning
The poet drinks wine while listening to the song “Water Melody.” He wakes from his afternoon drunk but his sorrow persists. He laments the passing of spring and his own fleeting youth. In the evening, looking into the mirror, he feels sad about time lost. He recalls past events and future promises, finding them all empty. Then he describes the evening scene: birds pair up on the sandbank, clouds part to reveal the moon, and flowers cast dancing shadows under the moonlight. Back indoors, behind multiple curtains, the lamp is shielded from the wind. As the wind continues and people grow quiet, he imagines that tomorrow the path will be covered with fallen petals.
听着《水调》歌几声，手里端着酒，午间醉后醒来，心头的愁却未醒。送走了春天，春天几时再回？傍晚临镜自照，伤叹如水年华，往事前约空自记省。沙滩上成双的鸟儿、池塘上暮色昏暝，云层裂开月儿出来，花枝在月下摆动影子。重重帘幕严密地遮住灯光，风还未停，人声初静，想明日园中小径该落满残红。
Appreciation
The poem is a masterpiece of expressing sorrow for spring, aging, and lost time. The famous line “Clouds parted, the moon appears, flowers play with shadows” is renowned for the character “play” (弄), which animates the flowers and creates a dynamic, ethereal scene. The structure moves from internal melancholy to external scenery, ending with a projection of future fallen petals, leaving lingering sadness.
【白话串讲】 张先午睡醒来，愁还没醒，看见沙洲上并眠的水鸟，忽然云破月来，花影在风里摇曳。“云破月来花弄影”，一个“弄”字，让他得了“张三影”的称号。 【意象与手法】 炼字精绝：「云破月来花弄影」中「破」「来」「弄」三个动词盘活静夜一幕，被誉为写景神笔；上片「送春春去」「临晚镜，伤流景」以复沓与对镜细节写迟暮，下片以「并禽」反衬孤身，以料想落红收束，以景结情。 【情感与主旨】 张先（990—1078）字子野，湖州人，晚年退居吴兴。此词为暮年自伤之作，以「送春」「临晚镜」「伤流景」「叹落红」寄寓流年之慨，是其「闲雅」词风的代表。 【名句点睛】 考点：①「云破月来花弄影」的炼字（破、来、弄）与画面；②「张三影」文学常识；③伤春叹老、以景结情。
Background
Zhang Xian (990–1078), courtesy name Ziyè, was a native of Huzhou. He retired to Wuxing in his old age. This poem was composed in his later years, reflecting his personal lament over aging. It is a representative of his “elegant and refined” style and displays the craftsmanship of Song dynasty lyrics.
张先（990—1078），字子野，乌程（今浙江湖州）人，宋仁宗天圣八年（1030）进士，官至都官郎中，故人称「张都官」，晚年退居吴兴（今浙江湖州），以词酒自娱，享年八十九岁。张先是北宋前期的重要词人，词风清丽闲雅，尤工于炼字写景，以善写「影」著称，时人称之为「张三影」。此词题为《天仙子》，作于其晚年，从「午醉醒来愁未醒」「临晚镜，伤流景」「明日落红应满径」诸语看，皆暮年自伤之意——春日将尽、年华老去、前约成空，愁绪绵绵不绝。北宋前期，词坛承五代花间之余绪，士大夫于宴饮游乐之余多作伤春叹老之词，张先此篇即其中的佼佼者，以工巧之笔写迟暮之慨，是宋初令词走向精工细密的重要见证，也是张先「闲雅」词风的典型代表。北宋初年，承平之世与词人之感伤并行，张先以影入词，将一时一地的感怀升华为对光阴的普遍咏叹，此词便是其暮年心境的真实投影，也是宋词由唐五代过渡到北宋中期的重要标本。
Art
The poem excels in refined word choice: “breaks” (破), “appears” (来), and “plays” (弄) animate a static night scene. The repetition in “seeing off spring, spring gone” and the detail of “facing evening mirror” deepen the temporal sorrow. The contrast between paired birds and the poet’s solitude, and the closing image of wind and imagined fallen petals, all convey emotion through scenery.
此词艺术上最突出处是炼字精绝。下片「云破月来花弄影」一句，被誉为千古写景名句：「破」写云隙乍开，「来」写月之突现，「弄」写花枝随风摇影，三个动词盘活静夜一幕——云、月、花本皆静物，经「破」「来」「弄」三字点化，顿生灵动之气，尤其「弄」字赋予花影以主动性，静中见动、幽中见媚。章法上，上片以「听歌」「醉酒」「愁未醒」写白日之愁，以「送春春去」的复沓写春之将逝，以「临晚镜，伤流景」的对镜细节直写迟暮，由外而内、层层逼入；下片转写夜景，以「并禽」成双反衬词人孤身，以「风不定，人初静」烘托夜深人静，结以「明日落红应满径」的料想——伤春之情由今夜推及明朝，以景结情，余韵悠长。全词由醉到愁、由愁到景、由景到叹，流转自然，正合「闲雅」二字。词之妙还在于以酒、以镜、以禽、以影、以风、以灯层层点染，无一字直言老之将至，而迟暮之感无处不在，正合词体要眇宜修的含蓄之美。上片写昼、下片写夜，昼夜之间愁绪流转，正是词人整日与愁相对、无可遁逃的写照。
Allusions
“Water Melody” is a popular suite from Sui and Tang dynasties. “Fleeting time” (流景) refers to passing years. “Paired birds” (并禽) contrast with the poet’s loneliness. “Fallen reds” (落红) denote fallen flowers. The poem features few allusions but is famous for its “shadow” lines; Zhang Xian is known as “Zhang Three Shadows” for three poems with exquisite shadow imagery.
「水调」为隋唐以来流行的大曲，相传隋炀帝开运河时制《水调歌》，唐宋时仍为宴乐常奏之曲，词人持酒听曲，曲中自有伤春之意。「流景」即流年光景，出自南朝谢朓「流景不可攀」之意，写光阴如水般流逝，与「临晚镜」的意象相合，暗用《楚辞》「惟草木之零落兮，恐美人之迟暮」的叹老传统。「并禽」指成双成对的水鸟，此处用以反衬词人的孤独——沙上双禽并宿，而词人独处灯下，以乐景写哀情，一倍增其哀。「落红」即落花，为伤春的传统意象。全词用典极少而意象玲珑，唯以「影」字见长：张先另有「娇柔懒起，帘压卷花影」「柳径无人，堕风絮无影」等句，与「云破月来花弄影」合称「三影」，可见其写影之专擅，将光影流动的瞬间之美写入词中，是宋词由疏朗走向精工的先声。三影之说，足见张先对影的痴迷——影者，光与物相触而生，稍纵即逝，正与流光易逝的主题暗合，张先以影写时、以影写心，可谓深得词心。
Commentary
Su Shi teased Zhang Xian as “Old sir, still known for lyrics.” Chen Tingzhuo in Baiyu Zhai Ci Hua called this poem “profound and melancholy.” The line “Clouds parted, the moon appears, flowers play with shadows” has been praised through the ages as a supreme example of nature description.
此词历代评价极高，尤以「云破月来花弄影」一句为盛。苏东坡曾戏称张先「先生老矣，犹以歌词闻」，又赠诗「诗人老去莺莺在，公子归来燕燕忙」，可见其在北宋文坛的声名。陈廷焯《白雨斋词话》评此词「沈郁」，谓其于流丽之中寓沉郁之气；王国维《人间词话》更以「云破月来花弄影」与宋祁「红杏枝头春意闹」并举，谓「着一『闹』字而境界全出」「着一『弄』字而境界全出」，将此句推为炼字写景的典范。「云破月来花弄影」一句，写景之工、炼字之妙，千年来为诗话词话所称引不绝，至今仍被视为中国古典诗词写景的巅峰名句之一。就词史地位而言，张先此词上承花间、南唐的婉约传统，下开北宋后期词人炼字琢句、写景入微的风气，在宋词由令词向慢词、由疏淡向工丽演进的过程中，具有承前启后的意义。此词今日读来，仍能引起对青春易逝的普遍共鸣，其艺术魅力已超越具体的时代与个人。
Prosody
Line by line
水调数声持酒听，午醉醒来愁未醒。
Listening to a few strains of Water Melody, holding wine, after a noon drunk I wake but my sorrow hasn’t woken.
听几声《水调》持酒而饮，午醉醒来愁却未醒。
A few notes of the Water Tune, wine in hand; waking from noon drunkenness, my grief has not yet woken.
起拍两句写尽词人整日与愁相对的状态。「水调数声持酒听」写听曲饮酒——持酒听曲本是风流雅事，然而「午醉醒来愁未醒」一转：酒可以醉、醉可以醒，而愁却始终不醒，酒的麻醉失效了，愁却长驻心头。一个「未醒」与「醒来」相对，写出愁之深、愁之久、愁之无奈——午间一醉尚不能遣愁，则此愁之重可知。两句一写外（听曲持酒），一写内（愁未醒），由雅事转入愁怀，定下全词伤春叹老的基调；「愁未醒」三字更是全词的词眼，后文之「伤流景」「叹落红」皆由此愁生发，起笔便笼罩全篇，一个暮年词人百无聊赖、愁肠百结的形象跃然纸上。
The opening two lines exhausting the poet's whole day's grief-facing state. The a-few-notes-of-the-Water-Tune-wine-in-hand writing the tune-and-wine — the wine-in-hand-tune-listening originally the romantic elegance, and yet the waking-from-noon-drunkenness-my-grief-has-not-yet-woken's turn: the wine's able to intoxicate and the drunkenness's able to wake, and yet the grief's never-waking, the wine's anesthesia's failed, the grief's long-staying heart. The not-yet-woken and woken's opposition, writing the grief's depth, length, and helplessness — the noon's one drunkenness's still unable to dispatch the grief, then this grief's weight known. Two lines one writing the outer (tune-wine), one the inner (grief-unwoken), from the elegant pastime to the grief, establishing the whole ci's spring-grief-and-aging tone; the grief-not-yet-woken three words' even more the whole ci's word-eye, the below's flowing-years-grief and fallen-blooms-sigh all from this grief sprouting, the opening's already enveloping the whole piece, an old-age poet's listless-and-hundred-knot image leaping on the paper.
送春春去几时回？临晚镜，伤流景，往事后期空记省。
Seeing off spring—when will spring return? Facing the evening mirror, I grieve for fleeting time; past events and future promises—vainly I remember and realize.
送春春几时回？临晚对镜伤逝水年华，往事前约空自记省。
I speed spring off; when will spring return? At evening's mirror I grieve the flowing years; past days and promised meetings are kept in vain.
此三句是全词伤春叹老的核心。「送春春去几时回」以「送春」点题，以「春去」与「几时回」的设问写春之不可留——春天送走了，几时才能回来？明知春去难回而偏要问，正是无可奈何之情的流露；「春春」二字复沓，更添一层怅惘。次写「临晚镜」：傍晚对镜自照，镜中人已是老境，于是「伤流景」——伤叹那如流水般逝去的光阴；「往事后期空记省」更进一层，往日的欢乐、当年的期约，如今都空自记着、无人兑现，一个「空」字写尽前约成空、往事如梦的幻灭感。由送春而临镜、由临镜而伤景、由伤景而叹往事，层层递进，把迟暮之悲写得宛转沉至，是全词情感最浓烈的段落。
These three lines are the whole ci's spring-grief-and-aging core. The I-speed-spring-off-when-will-spring-return pointing out the theme, using the spring's-gone and when-will-return question for the spring's no-keeping — spring sped off, when's the return? Knowing the spring's gone's hard-to-return and yet insisting on asking, precisely the helplessness's outflow; the spring-spring two words' repetition, adding one layer of wistfulness. Then writing the evening's-mirror: the evening's self-reflection, the mirror's person already the old estate, hence the grieve-the-flowing-years — the grieving the flowing-water-like passed time; the past-days-and-promised-meetings-are-kept-in-vain one layer further, the years' joy and the vows, now all the vain-keeping and no one's fulfilling, the one kong word exhausting the vows'-emptiness and past's-dream's disillusionment. From the spring-sending to the mirror-facing, from the mirror to the years'-grief, from the years'-grief to the past's sigh, layer on layer's advance, writing the decline's grief's gentle-and-profound, the whole ci's feeling's strongest passage.
沙上并禽池上暝，云破月来花弄影。
On the sandbank, paired birds; over the pond, dusk. Clouds break, the moon comes out, flowers play with their shadows.
沙上双禽、池上暮色，云破月出花枝弄影。
Paired birds on the sand, dusk on the pond; cloud breaks, moon comes, and flowers toy with their shadows.
此二句转写黄昏夜景，是全词的写景名句。「沙上并禽池上暝」写沙滩上成双的水鸟依偎而宿，池塘上暮色渐浓——并禽双宿本是温馨之景，却反衬出词人独处的孤单，以乐景写哀情，一倍增其哀。紧接着「云破月来花弄影」笔势一振：云层裂开，月光泻下，花枝在月下摇曳，影子随风摆动。这句的妙处全在三个动词——「破」写云隙乍开之态，「来」写月光突现之势，「弄」写花影婆娑之姿，尤其「弄」字将花枝写活了，仿佛花在主动地摆弄自己的影子，静夜之景因此灵动起来。月下花影的幽美与并禽的成双对照，更衬出词人的孤寂，景愈美而情愈孤，千古名句遂从此出，也正因此句，张先得以「云破月来花弄影」郎中传名后世。
These two lines turn to the dusk-night scene, the whole ci's famed scene line. The paired-birds-on-the-sand-dusk-on-the-pond writing the beach's paired waterfowl's cuddling-to-roost and the pond's deepening dusk — the paired birds' double roost originally the warm scene, and yet setting off the poet's solitary loneliness, using the joy-scene for the grief, the doubled grief. Then the cloud-breaks-moon-comes-and-flowers-toy-with-their-shadows's brush's one lift: the cloud layer's cracking, the moonlight's pouring, the flower bough's swaying in the moon, the shadow's wind-moving. This line's wonder all in three verbs — the po writing the cloud-gap's sudden opening, the lai writing the moonlight's sudden emergence, the nong writing the flower-shadow's dancing pose, especially the nong word's writing the flower bough alive, as if the flower's actively toying with its own shadow, the quiet-night scene hence living. The moonlit flower-shadow's beauty and the paired birds' matching's contrast, the poet's loneliness the clearer, the scene the more beautiful and the feeling the lonelier, the through-the-ages famed line hence born, and precisely because of this line, Zhang Xian's known to later ages as the cloud-breaks-moon-comes-flowers-toy-with-shadows doctor.
重重帘幕密遮灯，风不定，人初静，明日落红应满径。
Layer upon layer of curtains tightly screen the lamp. The wind is unsettled, people just quiet. Tomorrow, fallen reds should fill the path.
重重帘幕密遮灯，风未定人初静，明日落红该满径。
Curtain on curtain closely veils the lamp; the wind is unsteady, the man just still; tomorrow the fallen blooms should cover the path.
结拍由眼前的夜景写到明日的推想，以景结情、余韵悠长。「重重帘幕密遮灯」写词人回到室内，垂下重重帘幕遮住灯光——独处深院之人，连灯光也要遮住，孤寂之态可见；「风不定」写风还在吹，呼应前文「花弄影」——风动花摇，正是落花的前兆；「人初静」写夜深人静，万物俱寂，唯剩词人独坐灯下。末句「明日落红应满径」陡然将笔锋转到明天：今夜风大，明日园中小径上该落满残红了吧？一个「应」字是料想之辞，伤春之情由今夜推及明朝，由眼前落到将来——花将落尽，春将归去，人亦将老，余韵绵绵不尽。以推想之景作结，不言愁而愁满纸，是「以景结情」的典范。
The closing beat from the present night-scene turning to tomorrow's conjecture, using the scene-close-feeling and the long aftertaste. The curtain-on-curtain-closely-veils-the-lamp writing the poet's returning indoors, dropping the curtain-on-curtain's veiling the lamp-light — the deep-courtyard lone person, even the lamplight's to be veiled, the loneliness visible; the wind-is-unsteady writing the wind's still blowing, echoing the above's flowers-toy-with-their-shadows — the wind's moving and flower's swaying, precisely the fallen-bloom's omen; the man-just-still writing the night's deep and people's quiet, the ten-thousand-things' silent, only the poet's lone sitting by the lamp. The last line's tomorrow-the-fallen-blooms-should-cover-the-path's sharp brush to tomorrow: tonight's high wind, tomorrow's garden path's probably covered with faded red? The one ying word the conjecture's expression, the spring-grief's from tonight's pushing to tomorrow, from the present's landing to the future — the flowers' about-to-fall-fully, the spring's about-to-return, the person's about-to-old, the aftertaste unending. Closing on the conjectured scene, not speaking the grief and yet the grief's paper-full, the scene-close-feeling model.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Zhang’s ‘Tomorrow fallen reds should fill the path’ parallels Meng’s ‘Who knows how many flowers have fallen?’—comparable Tang and Song treatments of spring sorrow.
孟浩然《春晓》与张先《天仙子》同写伤春惜花之情，一唐一宋、一诗一词，恰可对照两种伤春笔法。《春晓》「夜来风雨声，花落知多少」，以清晨醒来后的一个问句写惜花，语言天然、不事雕琢，伤春之情淡而有味，是盛唐山水田园诗的自然浑成；《天仙子》「明日落红应满径」，以夜深时对明日的料想写惜花，炼字精工、情景婉转，伤春之情浓而多感，是北宋令词的人工之美。同是「风雨落花」，孟诗问得天真，张词料得凄然；一简淡一工丽，一清新一沉郁，合观恰见唐诗以气象胜、宋词以思致胜的风格分野，也可见「伤春」母题在唐宋间的传承与演变。
浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯 Silk-Washing Stream · A New Song, a Cup of Wine 晏殊 · 同写伤春叹老、同有花意象 Both lament spring and aging, with flower imagery.Zhang’s ‘flowers play with shadows’ and Yan’s ‘flowers fall’ are famous lines in Song ci lamenting spring—comparable in theme and style.
晏殊《浣溪沙》与张先《天仙子》同为北宋前期士大夫的伤春叹老之作，且皆有咏花的千古名句，是天然的对照文本。晏殊「无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来」，以「花落去」写春之无奈，以「燕归来」写时光的循环，理趣深婉、雍容闲雅；张先「云破月来花弄影」，以「花弄影」写春夜之美，以「落红满径」写春之将尽，炼字精绝、情致幽微。一写白日园亭间对花落的哲思，一写深夜灯下对花影的凝望；晏词由物入理，张词由景入情。二词并读，可见北宋前期词坛的两条路径：晏殊以闲雅蕴藉见长，张先以工巧细密见长，共同把伤春题材推向精深的境界。