All poems

宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

花心动

Hua Xin Dong — Stirrings of the Heart

黄子行

Huang Zixing

宋词Song lyric (ci) 咏物object-chanting 咏梅plum-blossom chant 闺怨boudoir grievance 孤寂loneliness

谁倚青楼，把谪仙长笛，数声吹裂。
一片乍零，千点还飞，正是雨晴时节。
水晶帘外东风起，卷不尽、满庭香雪，画阑小，斜铺乱飐，翠苔成缬。
袅袅馀香未歇。
空怅望音尘，两眉愁切。
翠袖泪干，粉额妆寒，此恨有谁同说。
江南春信无痕迹，馀情在、冷烟残月。
梦魂远，兰灯伴人易灭。

Who leans on the green tower, and with the banished immortal's long flute, sounds a few notes that split the air?
A single petal suddenly falls, a thousand specks yet fly — just the time when rain has cleared.
Beyond the crystal curtain the east wind rises, yet cannot sweep away the courtyard full of fragrant snow; by the small painted rail it slants and flutters, the green moss patterned like brocade.
The lingering fragrance has not yet ceased.
In vain I gaze, longing for news, my brows knit with sorrow.
Her emerald sleeves are dry of tears, her powdered brow cold with faded rouge — with whom can this regret be told?
The spring tidings of Jiangnan leave no trace; a lingering feeling remains in the cold mist and the waning moon.
Her dream-soul drifts far; the orchid lamp, companion to one alone, is quick to fade.

Listen

Meaning

A plum-blossom chant that doubles as a boudoir lament. It opens with a flute evoking falling blossoms, moves through the courtyard's fragrant snow, then turns to a lonely woman weeping, her sorrow untold. The poem merges the plum's purity with human isolation, ending in cold mist and a waning moon — a late-Song typical strategy of lodging grief in an object.

水晶帘外东风渐起，卷不走满庭如雪的梅花落瓣。翠袖上泪已哭干，粉额边残妆透寒，这般幽恨有谁可与诉说。江南的春信（梅信）已了无痕迹，只剩一点余情，留在冷烟与残月之中。

Appreciation

The poem's finest achievement is its seamless fusion of object and feeling — from plum to person, things and self interwoven without seam. The upper part purely renders the plum's state with clear, bright coloring; the lower part suddenly brings on the figure, the plum's purity already hinting at her solitude. Structurally it asks 'who leans' and ends with a sigh 'the dream-soul drifts,' with fragrant snow and cold mist, waning moon forming a warm-cold contrast of color and mood. Never stating 'I grieve' directly, it conveys feeling through falling blossoms, the cold moon, and the easily-extinguished lamp — a model of all scenery is emotion.

【白话串讲】黄子行写花心动：“谁倚青楼，把谪仙长笛，数声吹裂”。“一片乍零，千点还飞”——“水晶帘外东风起，卷不尽、满庭香雪”——“翠袖泪”——他写吹笛与落花。【意象与手法】物我双写水乳交融。「满庭香雪」设色清丽，「冷烟残月」转孤冷，色温反差见情绪；「翠袖」化用杜甫佳人。【情感与主旨】将梅之孤洁与人之孤寂绾合，借梅之零落自伤身世飘零，是宋末托物寓哀的典型取径。【名句点睛】「翠袖泪干，粉额妆寒，此恨有谁同说」物我合流，孤绝可知；「馀情在、冷烟残月」以凄清二物收束，哀婉不尽。

Background

Huang Zixing, style name Xiaoshan, lived at the Song-Yuan transition; his lyrics are gathered in Tang Guizhang's Quan Song Ci, his style between the Southern Song's refined lyrics and the exiles' clear bitterness. This 'Hua Xin Dong' is titled as a plum chant but is actually an object-chant combined with a longing-for-someone piece. The upper part writes the garden plum: who leans on the tower playing the flute, urging open the courtyard's fragrant snow; the east wind rises, petals fall and fly, slanting over green moss. The lower part turns from plum to person, entering boudoir loneliness: gazing vainly for news, emerald sleeves dry of tears, cold mist and waning moon, the dream-soul easily fading. The whole merges the plum's purity with human solitude — both chanting object and lamenting self, likely written around the fall of Song, when he was alone and adrift. Using the plum as vehicle and the person as grievance shows the typical late-Song lodging-grief-in-object approach, and reveals Huang's clear, stark manner. At a time of peril, scholars adrift borrowed the plum's purity to describe themselves and the cold moon to write their hearts — a common lyric strategy at a dynastic break.

黄子行，号霄山，宋末元初人，其词见唐圭璋《全宋词》辑录，风格介乎南宋雅词与遗民清苦之间。《花心动》此阕题为咏梅，实为咏物兼怀人之作。上片写园中梅花：谁倚青楼吹笛，催开满庭香雪；东风乍起，落英乍零还飞，斜铺翠苔。下片由梅及人，转入闺中孤寂：空望音尘、翠袖泪干、冷烟残月、梦魂易灭。全词将梅花之孤洁与人之孤寂绾合为一，既是咏物，亦是自伤，约作于宋亡前后、孤身飘零之时。其以梅起兴、以人结怨的笔法，正见宋末咏物词「托物寓哀」的典型取径，亦足窥黄子行清峭一脉的风神。黄子行此词以梅为媒，兼写闺怨，在宋末咏物词中自成一清峭面目。其时将危，士人飘零，借梅之孤洁以自喻，借月之残冷以写心，原是易代之际常见的抒情策略。此词虽未若王沂孙《花犯》之隐晦、张炎《解连环》之清空，而其丽而能哀，亦足动人。读此词者，宜置于宋末咏物大势中观之，方见其寄托之诚与身世之悲，非徒弄姿于梅月之间而已。

Art

The poem's greatest subtlety lies in fusing object-chanting with lyric feeling, moving from plum to person, things and self written as one without trace. The upper part purely renders the plum's posture: 'a single petal suddenly falls, a thousand specks yet fly' writes the scattering; 'courtyard full of fragrant snow' and 'slants and flutters' write the fallen blossoms like snow, clear in color yet full of motion. The lower part suddenly turns to 'in vain I gaze for news' and 'emerald sleeves dry of tears' — the figure enters, and the plum's purity already hints at her seclusion. Structurally it begins with the question 'who leans on the green tower' and ends with the sigh 'the dream-soul drifts far,' echoing head and tail; between, fragrant snow and cold mist, waning moon — one warm, one cold — form a contrast of color-temperature and mood. The whole never directly says 'I grieve,' but conveys it through the scattering plum, the cold moon, the easily-extinguished lamp — a model of all scenery is emotion, revealing the depth of late-Song object-chanting. The upper part writes the plum's posture with a human shadow implied; the lower writes the person's grievance reflecting the plum's soul; between thing and self the weaving is almost indistinct — the highest realm of object-chanting.

此词最妙处在将咏物与抒情水乳交融，由梅及人、物我双写而不着痕迹。上片纯写梅之态：「一片乍零，千点还飞」写落英之纷，「满庭香雪」「斜铺乱飐」写梅落满地如雪，设色清丽而带动感；下片忽转「空怅望音尘」「翠袖泪干」，人物登场，而梅之孤洁已暗喻人之幽独。结构上以「谁倚青楼」之问起，以「梦魂远」之叹收，首尾呼应；中间「香雪」与「冷烟残月」一暖一冷，构成色温与情绪的反差。通篇不直说「我愁」，而借梅之零落、月之残冷、灯之易灭曲曲传出，是「一切景语皆情语」的范例，亦见宋末咏物词寄托之深。上片写梅态而暗含人影，下片写人怨而回映梅魂，物我之间往复绾合，几不可分，是咏物词最高之境。其设色清丽而不腻，用笔疏宕而有骨，于长调铺叙中能敛能放，足见功力。尤可注意者，全词情绪由「谁倚」之问、转「空怅望」之失、终「梦魂远」之灭，一缕幽恨如草蛇灰线贯穿始终，结构之密，非率尔命笔可得，亦见宋末长调章法之精。

Allusions

'The banished immortal's long flute' uses Li Bai's poem 'Hearing a Flute at Yellow Crane Tower' — 'in Yellow Crane Tower they play the jade flute, in the river city in the fifth month the plum falls' — Li Bai styled himself the banished immortal, so the jade flute and falling plum became a common allusion doubly signifying plum-chant and flute-hearing; here 'with the banished immortal's long flute, a few notes split' both writes playing the flute to urge the plum and hints at the lament of a gifted man's exile. 'Fragrant snow' as metaphor for plum inherits Wang Anshi's 'from afar I know it is not snow, for a faint fragrance comes' and the Su Shi plum tradition, using snow for its color, fragrance for its soul. 'Emerald sleeves' from Du Fu's 'The Fair One' — 'the cold deep, her emerald sleeves thin, at dusk she leans on the tall bamboo' — here 'emerald sleeves dry of tears' writes the woman weeping long. 'Jiangnan's spring tidings' originates in Lu Kai's 'To Fan Ye' — 'in Jiangnan I have nothing, I send you a branch of spring' — the plum-message; the line says 'no trace' darkly mourning severed correspondence. The allusions are all elegant, fused between plum and person without seam.

「谪仙长笛」用李白《与史郎中钦听黄鹤楼上吹笛》「黄鹤楼中吹玉笛，江城五月落梅花」之典，李白自号谪仙，玉笛落梅遂成咏梅与闻笛双关的熟典，此处「把谪仙长笛，数声吹裂」既写吹笛催梅，亦暗含仙才落拓之慨。「香雪」喻梅，承王安石「遥知不是雪，为有暗香来」与苏轼咏梅之传统，以雪状其色、以香状其魂。「翠袖」出杜甫《佳人》「天寒翠袖薄，日暮倚修竹」，此处「翠袖泪干」写女子久立泣久。「江南春信」本陆凯《赠范晔》「江南无所有，聊赠一枝春」之梅信，词言「无痕迹」则暗伤音书断绝。数典皆雅，融于梅与人之间，浑化无迹。上述诸典，自李白之仙、杜甫之佳人、陆凯之江南，到林逋之疏影，皆咏梅传统中久经熔铸之故实。黄子行信手拈来，各安其所：以谪仙写笛、以翠袖写泪、以江南写信、以疏影写窗，无一闲笔。宋人咏物最重寄托与隶事，此词用典之密而不滞，正其得宋贤之法处。学者读之，不妨循典以求意，自见梅与人、古与今在词中如何交织成一片凄清之境。

Commentary

Huang Zixing's lyrics appear in Quan Song Ci and were also recorded in the Qing anthology Ci Cong; among late-Song masters he belongs to the clear-stark line. Modern scholars of Song exile object-chanting mostly center on Wang Yisun, Zhang Yan, and Zhou Mi, yet Huang's plum-person double writing can also be read as the self-metaphor of a loyal subject at a dynastic break. The poem's pairing of 'courtyard full of fragrant snow' (beautiful) with 'cold mist, waning moon' (lonely) differs in flavor yet shares a source with Zhang Yan's empty-clear and Wang Yisun's cryptic — all borrow one object to lodge their fate. Its desolation of 'the dream-soul drifts far; the orchid lamp, companion to one alone, is quick to fade' shares the lonely-lamp, broken-dream realm of Li Qingzhao's 'the lamp's flower knots, a moment's spring dream, Jiangnan's sky is wide.' Modern readers should, beneath the clear plum-and-moon scene, feel the poet's perilous, homeless personal sorrow.

黄子行词见《全宋词》，清人编《词综》亦录其作，于宋末诸家中属清峭一脉。近人论宋遗民咏物词，多以王沂孙、张炎、周密为宗，然黄子行此类「梅人双写」之作，亦可读作易代之际孤臣孽子之自喻（参清人《词综》选目与近人咏物词研究之通论）。此词「满庭香雪」之丽与「冷烟残月」之孤对举，与张炎咏物「清空」、王沂孙咏物「隐涩」皆异趣而同源——皆借一物以寓身世。其「梦魂远，兰灯伴人易灭」之凄，与李清照「灯花结，片时春梦，江南天阔」同一孤灯残梦之境。今人读之，当于梅月之清景中，体贴词人孤危无寄的身世之悲。清人《词综》录黄子行之作，近人论宋遗民咏物词亦每及之，虽评价不尽极高，而对其清峭一脉多予肯定。此词梅人双写，与张炎「山中白云」之清空、王沂孙「碧山」之隐涩并观，可见宋末咏物三途。今之治词史者，于名家之外亦当存此一路，方见一代词风之全。其以丽笔写沉哀，尤足证易代之际文人托物以自处的普遍心态，文献与审美价值俱未可轻。

Prosody

Form Lyric, long tune (double-mode Hua Xin Dong)词·长调（双调《花心动》）

Rhyme Throughout enters the entering-tone oblique rhyme (lie, jie, xie, xie2, qie, shuo, yue, mie — Cilin Zhengyun 18th bu, the yue-xie group), one rhyme sustained.通体入声仄韵（裂、节、缬、歇、切、说、月、灭，词林正韵第十八部月屑）

Tone pattern Entering-tone oblique rhyme throughout, affective tone choked and stark.入声仄韵到底，声情幽咽峭结

Reading note Hua Xin Dong is a double-mode long tune; this lyric throughout uses entering-tone rhyme — lie, jie, xie, xie2, qie, shuo, yue, mie all belong to the Cilin Zhengyun 18th bu yue-xie rhyme, sustained throughout, its affective tone choked and stark, most suited to writing loneliness, cold, and tender grief, generating with the desolate mood of 'courtyard full of fragrant snow' and 'cold mist, waning moon.' In sentence structure, long and short lines are staggered: the upper part unfolds the plum scene with 4,5,4,6,7,3,4,4; the lower turns to the person's grievance with 3,4,4,4,7,7. At places like 'by the small painted rail, it slants and flutters' and 'a lingering feeling remains in, cold mist and waning moon' the leading characters 'small' and 'in' pivot, keeping the long tune from stiffness. The entering-tone rhyme's brief, cut-off ending, like urgent strings, matches the drifting-extinguishing feeling of 'the dream-soul drifts far; the orchid lamp is quick to fade,' proving the poet's precision in choosing rhyme to embody feeling.《花心动》为双调长调，此阕通体押入声韵，裂、节、缬、歇、切、说、月、灭皆隶词林正韵第十八部月屑韵，一韵到底，声情幽咽峭结，最宜写孤冷哀婉之怀，与满庭香雪、冷烟残月的凄清意境相生。句式上长短错落，上片以四、五、四、六、七、三、四、四铺开梅景，下片以三、四、四、四、七、七转写人怨，节奏由舒而促、由景而情。「画阑小，斜铺乱飐」「馀情在、冷烟残月」等处以领字「小」「在」斡旋，使长调免于板滞。入声韵短促收束，如急管哀弦，与「梦魂远，兰灯伴人易灭」的飘灭之感恰相表里，足证词人选韵体情之精。入声韵声情促迫，最宜写幽咽孤清之怀，此词八韵皆入月屑，一韵到底而气脉不断，如哀弦急管，与冷月残梅之境相生。长调用入声者相对较少，黄子行独选此韵部以写梅怨，足见其于声情体性之自觉。学者读长调，每重平仄而略韵部，不知仄中之入声尤具峭结之效，此词正可为例，亦见宋人填词于音律一道用工之深。

Line by line

水晶帘外东风起，卷不尽、满庭香雪，

Beyond the crystal curtain the east wind rises, yet cannot sweep away the courtyard full of fragrant snow;

水晶帘外东风渐起，卷不走满庭如雪的梅花落瓣。

Beyond the crystal curtain the east wind rises; it cannot curl away the scent-snow filling the courtyard.

此句写风吹梅落、满庭香雪的动态画面。「水晶帘」点出居所之雅，「东风起」启落花之局，「卷不尽、满庭香雪」以「香雪」喻梅，既状其白如雪、又写其香满庭，设色极清。「卷不尽」三字尤有深意：风可卷花，却卷不尽满地落英，更卷不尽心中愁绪，由实入虚，暗逗下片之情。一句之中，景之丽与意之怅已相纠结，东风无情而落花有情，恰为后文「空怅望」伏脉，是小令（长调）由景及情的关键转捩。

This line writes the moving picture of the wind blowing plum petals down, the scent-snow filling the courtyard. The crystal curtain marks the refined dwelling; the east wind rises opens the scene of falling flowers; the curled away the scent-snow filling the courtyard compares the plum to scent-snow, writing it white as snow and fragrant through the court, the coloring most clear. The three words cannot curl away carry hidden depth: the wind can roll flowers but cannot roll up the fallen petals on the ground, still less the grief in the heart; it moves from the solid to the void, secretly prompting the lower stanza's feeling. In one line the beauty of the scene and the regret of the meaning are already tangled; the east wind is heartless, the falling flowers feeling, which foreshadows the later empty gazing - the key turn of the long melody from scenery to feeling.

翠袖泪干，粉额妆寒，此恨有谁同说。

Her emerald sleeves are dry of tears, her powdered brow cold with faded rouge — with whom can this regret be told?

翠袖上泪已哭干，粉额边残妆透寒，这般幽恨有谁可与诉说。

Green sleeves, tears dried; powdered brow, makeup chill - with whom can I tell this grief?

此句由梅折入人，写闺中孤寂之极。「翠袖泪干」化用杜甫《佳人》而加以「干」字，写泣之久、泪之竭，悲已至于无声；「粉额妆寒」以残妆之冷写独守之凄，妆而不整，正见无心梳裹。结以「此恨有谁同说」，将前面所有梅景、东风、落英尽收为一「恨」字，而「同说」无人，则孤绝可知。全词物我双写至此合流：梅之零落即人之飘零，梅之孤洁即人之幽独，托物之哀一语道破，是咏物词「寄托」得以落实的着力点。

This line turns from plum to person, writing the utmost solitude of the chamber. Green sleeves, tears dried transforms Du Fu's The Lovely Person with the added word dried, writing how long she has wept and how the tears are spent, grief reached the point of silence. Powdered brow, makeup chill writes the desolation of keeping vigil through the cold of leftover makeup; makeup untidy shows the heartlessness of adorning. Closing with with whom can I tell this grief gathers all the plum scenery, east wind and fallen petals into the single word grief, and since there is no one to share the telling, the isolation is plain. The whole ci's double writing of thing and self now merges: the plum's scattering is the person's drifting, the plum's purity is the person's seclusion; the lodged sorrow is spoken in one stroke - the point where the object-poem's寄托 takes hold.

江南春信无痕迹，馀情在、冷烟残月。

The spring tidings of Jiangnan leave no trace; a lingering feeling remains in the cold mist and the waning moon.

江南的春信（梅信）已了无痕迹，只剩一点余情，留在冷烟与残月之中。

The spring message of Jiangnan has left no trace; what feeling remains stays in the cold mist and the waning moon.

结片写春尽信断、余情独冷的收束之境。「江南春信」指梅花所报之春，言「无痕迹」则是花落人散、音书断绝的双重隐喻，暗伤所念之渺。「馀情在、冷烟残月」以凄清二物收束全词，烟之冷、月之残，既是实景，更是心境——一切热闹（青楼笛、满庭雪）归于冷烟残月之孤。两句由「无」而「有」：信虽无痕，情却有寄，寄于冷烟残月，哀婉不尽。此即咏物词「不即不离」之妙，于收束处留无尽凄凉，最耐寻味。

The closing writes the realm of spring's end, the message broken, and the lonely cold of what feeling remains. The spring message of Jiangnan means the spring announced by the plum; to say it leaves no trace is the double metaphor of flowers fallen and people scattered, letters cut off, secretly grieving the remoteness of the beloved. What feeling remains stays in the cold mist and the waning moon closes the ci with two desolate objects - the cold mist, the wan moon, both actual scene and mood: all the liveliness (the tower song, the court of snow) returns to the solitude of cold mist and wan moon. The two lines move from void to being: though the message has no trace, the feeling has a place, lodged in the cold mist and wan moon, mournful and unending. This is the object-poem's art of neither too close nor too far, holding endless desolation at the close, most worth the lingering reading.

Study

Word focus

香雪 'Fragrant snow' (xiang xue) uses 'snow' for the plum's white color and 'fragrant' for its pure soul, a classic epithet for the plum; here 'courtyard full of fragrant snow' writes fallen petals like fragrant snow, both clear-beautiful and implying the wound of falling to mud. 「香雪」一词，以「雪」状梅之色白，以「香」状梅之魂清，二美并写，遂成咏梅之经典代称。其渊源可上溯王安石「遥知不是雪，为有暗香来」的雪香对照，至宋人乃凝为「香雪」二字（如李清照「香脸半开娇旖旎，当庭际、玉人浴出新妆洗」写梅亦近此意）。此处「满庭香雪」写落梅满地如积雪含香，既极清丽，又暗含「零落成泥」的凋伤。一词设色，已具暖（香）冷（雪）相激之张力，为下片「冷烟残月」之孤冷预作反衬，炼字之妙在形神兼具。

谪仙 'Banished immortal' (zhe xian) originally refers to Li Bai, whom He Zhizhang praised as a banished immortal; here it stands for the flute-player, using Li's Yellow Crane Tower poem to bind flute and falling plum, and hinting at the lament of a gifted man's exile — overlaying the plum's blooming-and-falling on a talented man's drifting. 「谪仙」本指李白，贺知章叹李白「谪仙人」也。此词「把谪仙长笛，数声吹裂」以「谪仙」代指吹笛之人（或径指李白之笛），既用李白《黄鹤楼闻笛》「江城五月落梅花」之典，使笛声与落梅绾合，又暗含「谪」字的天涯沦落之慨。词人特标「谪仙」而非泛言吹者，是将梅花之开落与才士之飘零叠印——仙才亦遭谪，名花亦零落，物我同悲。一字之取，使咏物之作平添一层身世之喻，可见宋末词用典「借古人之酒杯，浇自己之块垒」的深意。

缬 'Xie' (brocade-pattern) originally means a patterned silk or a wine-flush; here 'the green moss becomes brocade' uses xie to describe fallen plum petals on green moss like a naturally woven design — red and white petals amid green moss, dappled into pattern — a painter's eye entering the lyric, showing Huang's ability to seek novelty within clarity. 「缬」本指有花纹的丝织品或酒后脸红（酒缬），此词「翠苔成缬」则以「缬」状落梅铺于青苔之上，如天然织就的彩纹——梅瓣红白错落、苔色青翠，斑驳成文，故曰「成缬」。一字写尽落英与苔石相映的纹理之美，设色极细，是画家之眼入词。「斜铺乱飐」写其动态，「翠苔成缬」写其静态之纹，动静相生。此字生新而不僻，于长调铺叙中具一点缀之巧，足见黄子行炼字之能于清丽中求奇，亦见宋词设色之精。

花心动