五代 Five Dynasties · 词 Ci lyric
玉楼春·冰肌玉骨
Spring in the Jade Tower · Ice-Flesh and Jade-Bone
冰肌玉骨，自清凉无汗。
水殿风来暗香满。
绣帘开，一点明月窥人，人未寝，欹枕钗横鬓乱。
起来携素手，庭户无声，时见疏星渡河汉。
试问夜如何？
夜已三更，金波淡，玉绳低转。
但屈指西风几时来，又不道流年暗中偷换。
Wind comes to the water palace; a hidden fragrance fills it.
The embroidered curtain opens: a point of bright moon peeps in at her.
She has not slept—leaning on her pillow, hairpin askew, tresses loose.
She rises, and I take her pale hand; the courtyard is without a sound,
And from time to time we see the sparse stars crossing the River of Heaven.
Let me ask, how goes the night? It is already the third watch.
The golden waves are thin; the Jade Cord star turns low.
We only count on our fingers when the west wind will come,
And never notice that the fleeting years are secretly stolen away.
Meaning
Her flesh is like ice and her bones like jade; by nature she is cool and never sweats. Wind crosses the palace beside the water and a hidden fragrance fills the air. The embroidered curtain is rolled open and a slip of bright moon quietly peeps in at her; she has not yet fallen asleep but lies against her pillow, her hairpin askew and her hair loose at the temples. She rises and lets her pale hand be taken; the courtyard is utterly silent, and now and then they see sparse stars crossing the River of Heaven. He asks how far the night has gone: it is already the third watch, the moonlight is thin and the Jade Cord star turns low. They only count on their fingers when the west wind will come, and never notice that the fleeting years are being quietly stolen away.
她冰样的肌肤玉样的骨，自来清凉不染汗。水边宫殿风过处暗香弥漫。绣帘卷开，一弯明月悄悄窥人，人还未睡，欹枕而卧，钗横鬓乱。起身牵着素白的手，庭户悄然无声，不时看见疏星渡过银河。试问夜已几何？已是三更，月光淡淡，玉绳星低低流转。只屈指盘算西风几时吹来，却又嗔怪流年正暗里偷偷换走。
Appreciation
Meng Chang (919-965), last ruler of Later Shu, was a skilled lyricist and the devoted companion of Lady Huarui, and this piece is traditionally placed on a summer night of taking the cool air beside the Mohe Pool. The upper stanza sums up an unearthly beauty in its first eight words, flesh of ice and bone of jade, of herself cool and without sweat, while wind crossing the water palace and hidden fragrance filling it establish the clearness of the setting; the curtain opens and a point of moon peeps in, a personifying touch that puts mischief into stillness. The lower stanza moves outward to the silent courtyard, the sparse stars crossing the River of Heaven, the third watch struck, the moonlight thin and the Jade Cord star turning low. Then the close swerves from pleasure to time, the fleeting years secretly stolen away, and the whole song, lovely but never lewd, keeps an immortal grace close to Li Bai's Pure Serene Music.
【白话串讲】 后蜀后主孟昶写花蕊夫人：“冰肌玉骨，自清凉无汗。水殿风来暗香满”。“起来携素手，庭户无声，时见疏星渡河汉”——他们牵手看银河。“但屈指西风几时来”——他数着日子，等秋天来。 【意象与手法】 上片冰肌玉骨，自清凉无汗八字总写丽质脱俗，水殿风来暗香满写境之清；绣帘开，一点明月窥人以窥字拟人，静中见俏 【情感与主旨】 孟昶（919—965），五代后蜀后主，工词，宠花蕊夫人 【名句点睛】 本词常考炼字与意境，亦多与苏轼《洞仙歌》比较
Background
Meng Chang (919-965) was the last ruler of Later Shu in the Five Dynasties, a skilled writer of lyrics and the devoted lover of Lady Huarui. This piece, to the tune Spring in the Jade Tower (also called Magnolia Flower), is traditionally said to have been written when he and Lady Huarui took the cool air on a summer night beside the Mohe Pool. According to Su Shi's preface to his Song of the Cave Immortal, Meng Chang's original lyric had been lost, and Su, regretting its imperfection, recast it; yet the present text was already circulating in the Song and may have been pieced out by later hands. The lyric sets a woman of ice-flesh and jade-bone amid the clear wind of a palace by the water and the sparse stars of the night sky, joining courtly opulence to an airy, immortal grace, and is one of the higher-toned pieces among the love lyrics of the Five Dynasties.
《玉楼春·冰肌玉骨》为五代后蜀孟昶所作，是写花蕊夫人、宫中秋夜之景的词。孟昶（919—965），五代后蜀后主。此词：冰肌玉骨，自清凉无汗。水殿风来暗香满。绣帘开，一点明月窥人，人未寝，欹枕钗横鬓乱。起来携素手，庭户无声，时见疏星渡河汉。试问夜如何？夜已三更，金波淡，玉绳低转。但屈指西风几时来，又不道流年暗中偷换。全词写宫中秋夜、花蕊夫人之丽，是孟昶词的名篇。
Art
The first eight words, ice-flesh and jade-bone, of herself cool and without sweat, sum up a beauty beyond the common world, while wind coming to the water palace and hidden fragrance filling it write the clearness of the setting; in 'the embroidered curtain opens, a point of bright moon peeps in at her' the word peep personifies the moon and puts mischief into a still scene. In the lower stanza, rising and taking her pale hand passes from the person to the setting, and 'the courtyard without a sound, from time to time the sparse stars crossing the River of Heaven' writes stillness by means of motion, airy and beyond the dust. The closing lines, counting on the fingers when the west wind will come and never noting that the fleeting years are secretly stolen away, turn suddenly from happy love to a sigh over time, and the echo carries far. The whole lyric is lovely without being lewd, close to the immortal grace of Li Bai's Pure Serene Music.
《玉楼春·冰肌玉骨》艺术上以宫中秋夜的描摹与佳人丽态的纤秾见长。全词分两片：上片写冰肌玉骨——“冰肌玉骨，自清凉无汗”写冰肌玉骨、清凉无汗，“水殿风来暗香满”写水殿风来、暗香满，“绣帘开，一点明月窥人，人未寝，欹枕钗横鬓乱”写绣帘明月、欹枕钗横鬓乱；下片写携手望星——“起来携素手，庭户无声，时见疏星渡河汉”写起来携素手、疏星渡河汉，“试问夜如何？夜已三更，金波淡，玉绳低转”写夜已三更、金波淡、玉绳低转，“但屈指西风几时来，又不道流年暗中偷换”写屈指西风、流年偷换。全词以宫中秋夜写佳人丽态，正是孟昶词纤秾的笔法。
Allusions
The lyric draws on immortal lore to describe a woman. Ice-flesh and jade-bone, of herself cool and without sweat, derives from the Zhuangzi and from the Unofficial Biography of Zhao Feiyan, where the words describe Feiyan herself; Meng Chang transfers the praise to Lady Huarui. The water palace means a hall built beside water, quietly echoing the water-dwelling imagery of the Goddess of the Luo, who walks lightly upon the waves. Jade Cord is the name of a star beside the Northern Dipper; Zhang Heng's Rhapsody on the Western Capital has the line, 'I fly up to the gate-tower and gaze aloft, and there behold Yaoguang and the Jade Cord'. Golden waves means moonlight, from the Treatise on Rites and Music in the History of the Han, 'the moon in its solemn course sheds golden waves'. The allusions are elegant and clean, transforming a mortal night of cooling off into a palace of heaven.
《玉楼春·冰肌玉骨》用典在“玉绳”“河汉”。“河汉”写银河；“玉绳”写北斗七星之一（玉绳星，主夜）；“金波”写月光。全词以这些意象写宫中秋夜，用典自然而纤秾自见，正是孟昶词的笔法。
Commentary
Su Shi's preface to the Song of the Cave Immortal states plainly that he was recasting this lyric of Meng Chang's, which is proof enough of the line of descent. Shen Jifei remarked of the opening pair that these two lines alone outdo any amount of ornament. Modern critics call the piece lovely yet clear, alluring yet not wanton, saying that beyond the anecdote of Lady Huarui and the Mohe Pool it makes a summer night's world of its own and counts among the best of Five Dynasties palace lyrics. The Ci Tong likewise praises it as an orchid in an empty valley, fragrant of itself without the help of carving.
《玉楼春·冰肌玉骨》是孟昶词的名篇，也是五代词写宫中美人的代表作（相传此词咏花蕊夫人）。此词写宫中秋夜、花蕊夫人之丽，向为论者称道。论者多赏其宫中秋夜的描摹与佳人丽态的纤秾——“冰肌玉骨，自清凉无汗”写冰肌玉骨，纤秾之极；“水殿风来暗香满”写水殿暗香，更见其丽；“绣帘开，一点明月窥人，人未寝，欹枕钗横鬓乱”写明月窥人、钗横鬓乱，尤见其艳。孟昶为后蜀后主，此词正以纤秾之笔写宫中秋夜，是五代词写美人的代表作。
Prosody
Line by line
冰肌玉骨，自清凉无汗。水殿风来暗香满。
Ice-flesh, jade-bones, of themselves cool and sweatless; wind comes through the water pavilion, and faint fragrance fills the air.
冰肌玉骨，自清凉无汗。水殿风来暗香满。
Her flesh is ice, her bones jade; naturally cool, she sweats not at all. When the wind rises in the water pavilion, a faint fragrance fills the air.
首写冰肌玉骨、水殿暗香，是全词写佳人之丽的起点。“冰肌玉骨，自清凉无汗”写冰肌玉骨——“冰肌玉骨”写如冰之肌、如玉之骨，“自清凉无汗”写自然清凉无汗——冰肌玉骨，清凉无汗；“水殿风来暗香满”写水殿暗香——“水殿风来暗香满”写水殿风来、暗香盈满——水殿风来暗香满。三句写冰肌玉骨、水殿暗香：冰肌玉骨自清凉无汗，水殿风来暗香满。以“冰肌玉骨，自清凉无汗”写佳人冰肌玉骨、清凉无汗之丽，以“水殿风来暗香满”写水殿风来、暗香盈满之景，正是孟昶词写佳人丽态的起点——玉人如水，暗香盈殿。
The opening writes the ice-flesh and the water-pavilion fragrance, the starting point of the lyric's portrait of the beauty. 'Ice-flesh, jade-bones, of themselves cool and sweatless' writes the beauty's ice-like flesh and jade-like frame, naturally cool and sweatless. 'Wind comes through the water pavilion, and faint fragrance fills the air' writes the water-pavilion breeze and the filling faint scent. Three lines write the beauty's coolness and the pavilion's fragrance—the jade woman like water, the faint scent filling the hall. It is Meng Chang's starting point for the beauty's loveliness.
绣帘开，一点明月窥人，人未寝，欹枕钗横鬓乱。
The embroidered curtain parts; a thread of bright moon peeks at the woman. She is not asleep, leaning on the pillow, the hairpin aslant, the temples disordered.
绣帘开，一点明月窥人，人未寝，欹枕钗横鬓乱。
The embroidered curtain is drawn aside; a sliver of bright moon peeps in upon her. She is not yet asleep, pillowed on her arm, hairpin awry and hair unkempt.
此四句写绣帘明月、钗横鬓乱，是全词写佳人夜态的深化。“绣帘开，一点明月窥人”写绣帘明月——“绣帘开”写绣帘开启，“一点明月窥人”写一点明月窥人——绣帘开，一点明月窥人；“人未寝，欹枕钗横鬓乱”写钗横鬓乱——“人未寝”写人还未寝，“欹枕钗横鬓乱”写欹枕钗横鬓乱——人未寝，欹枕钗横鬓乱。四句写绣帘明月、钗横鬓乱：绣帘开一点明月窥人，人未寝欹枕钗横鬓乱。以“绣帘开，一点明月窥人”写绣帘开处、明月窥人之静，以“人未寝，欹枕钗横鬓乱”写未寝欹枕、钗横鬓乱之慵，正是孟昶词写佳人夜态的深化——月窥帘隙，钗乱鬓横。
These four lines write the moon at the curtain and the disordered temples, the deepening of the beauty's night. 'The embroidered curtain parts; a thread of bright moon peeks at the woman' writes the parted curtain and the moon's peeking. 'She is not asleep, leaning on the pillow, the hairpin aslant, the temples disordered' writes the sleeplessness and the disarray. Four lines write the moon at the curtain and the disordered hair—the moon peeking through the curtain's gap, the aslant pin and tumbled temples, Meng Chang's deepening of the beauty's night.
起来携素手，庭户无声，时见疏星渡河汉。
Rising, I take her white hand; the courtyard gates are soundless, and now and then faint stars cross the Silver River.
起来携素手，庭户无声，时见疏星渡河汉。
Rising, I take her white hand; courtyard and doors are hushed, and from time to time sparse stars cross the Milky Way.
此三句写携手望星、疏星渡河汉，是全词写宫中秋夜的深化。“起来携素手”写起来携素手——“起来携素手”写起来携起素手——起来携素手；“庭户无声，时见疏星渡河汉”写庭户无声、疏星渡河汉——“庭户无声”写庭院门户无声，“时见疏星渡河汉”写时见疏星渡过银河——庭户无声，疏星渡河汉。三句写携手望星、疏星渡河汉：起来携素手，庭户无声，时见疏星渡河汉。以“起来携素手”写携手并起之亲密，以“庭户无声，时见疏星渡河汉”写庭户无声、疏星渡银河之静夜，正是孟昶词写宫中秋夜的深化——夜静携手，星渡河汉。
These three lines write the linked hands and the crossing stars, the deepening of the palace autumn night. 'Rising, I take her white hand' writes the rising and the clasped pale hand, the closeness of hand in hand. 'The courtyard gates are soundless, and now and then faint stars cross the Silver River' writes the soundless court and the sparse stars crossing the galaxy. Three lines write the linked hands and the crossing stars—the quiet night, hand in hand, the stars crossing the river, Meng Chang's deepening of the palace autumn.
但屈指西风几时来，又不道流年暗中偷换。
I only count upon my fingers when the west wind will come, not knowing how the fleeting years steal by in secret.
但屈指西风几时来，又不道流年暗中偷换。
I count upon my fingers for when the west wind will blow, not seeing how the flowing years are secretly slipping away.
末写屈指西风、流年偷换，是全词写时光之慨的归结。“但屈指西风几时来”写屈指西风——“但屈指西风几时来”写屈指计算西风几时来（盼秋凉）——但屈指西风几时来；“又不道流年暗中偷换”写流年偷换——“又不道流年暗中偷换”写却不知流年在暗中偷换——又不道流年暗中偷换。二句写屈指西风、流年偷换：但屈指西风几时来，又不道流年暗中偷换。以“但屈指西风几时来”写屈指盼西风之来，以“又不道流年暗中偷换”写不知流年在暗中偷换，正是孟昶词写时光之慨的归结——盼秋凉而岁月暗逝。
The closing writes the counting of the west wind and the stolen years, the conclusion of the lyric's sigh at time. 'I only count upon my fingers when the west wind will come' writes the finger-counting, longing for the west wind (expecting autumn cool). 'Not knowing how the fleeting years steal by in secret' writes the unnoticed passing of the years. Two lines write the expected wind and the stolen time—longing for autumn cool while the years silently slip away, Meng Chang's conclusion of the sigh at time.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
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谢新恩·秦楼不见 Gratitude for the New Spring · The Tower Out of Sight 李煜 · 与本首相关联的同类或同作者作品，供对比阅读 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
此处关联李煜《谢新恩·秦楼不见》，与本首在主题、体裁或作者上相关联，可对比阅读以见其同异。