Home › Poems › On the Night of the Fifteenth of the Eighth Month, on Duty in the Palace, Thinking of Yuan Zhen

Bā Yuè Shí Wǔ Rì Yè Jìn Zhōng Dú Zhí Duì Yuè Yì Yuán JiǔOn the Night of the Fifteenth of the Eighth Month, on Duty in the Palace, Thinking of Yuan Zhen 八月十五日夜禁中独直对月忆元九

Bai Juyi (白居易, also known as Po Chü-i, Bai Letian)｜Mid Tang｜seven-character regulated verse

Bai Juyi's mid-autumn moon for an exiled friend.

Original Chinese text with pinyin

银台金阙夕沉沉
yín tái jīn què xī chén chén

独宿相思在翰林
dú sù xiāng sī zài hàn lín

三五夜中新月色
sān wǔ yè zhōng xīn yuè sè

二千里外故人心
èr qiān lǐ wài gù rén xīn

渚宫东面烟波冷
zhǔ gōng dōng miàn yān bō lěng

浴殿西头钟漏深
yù diàn xī tóu zhōng lòu shēn

犹恐清光不同见
yóu kǒng qīng guāng bù tóng jiàn

江陵卑湿足秋阴
jiāng líng bēi shī zú qiū yīn

Simplified characters; traditional title: 八月十五日夜禁中獨直對月憶元九.

English translation

Silver terraces and golden gates — the evening is deep and still;

on night duty alone in the Hanlin Academy, I think of you.

The fresh moonlight of the fifteenth night;

the heart of an old friend two thousand li away.

East of the Zhugong palace the misty waves are cold;

west of the Bathing Hall the water clock drips deep.

I fear we do not share the same clear light —

Jiangling is low and damp, with many cloudy autumn days.

Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.

Line by line

银台金阙夕沉沉 · yín tái jīn què xī chén chén — Silver terraces and golden gates — the evening is deep and still;

独宿相思在翰林 · dú sù xiāng sī zài hàn lín — on night duty alone in the Hanlin Academy, I think of you.

三五夜中新月色 · sān wǔ yè zhōng xīn yuè sè — The fresh moonlight of the fifteenth night;

二千里外故人心 · èr qiān lǐ wài gù rén xīn — the heart of an old friend two thousand li away.

渚宫东面烟波冷 · zhǔ gōng dōng miàn yān bō lěng — East of the Zhugong palace the misty waves are cold;

浴殿西头钟漏深 · yù diàn xī tóu zhōng lòu shēn — west of the Bathing Hall the water clock drips deep.

犹恐清光不同见 · yóu kǒng qīng guāng bù tóng jiàn — I fear we do not share the same clear light —

江陵卑湿足秋阴 · jiāng líng bēi shī zú qiū yīn — Jiangling is low and damp, with many cloudy autumn days.

Meaning and imagery

The palace setting is splendid but lonely. The second couplet is perfectly balanced, joining the moon over the capital to the friend's heart far away. The third couplet imagines Yuan Zhen's side (Zhugong in Jiangling) against his own (the palace bathhouse). The ending worries that even the moon may not reach his friend, since Jiangling is often clouded: friendship expressed as concern.

Background

Written in 810 when Bai Juyi was serving as a Hanlin scholar in the palace and his closest friend Yuan Zhen ("Yuan the Ninth") had been demoted to Jiangling. The couplet "三五夜中新月色，二千里外故人心" was much loved in Heian Japan and is quoted in "The Tale of Genji."

Key words

翰林 hàn lín: the Hanlin Academy
三五夜 sān wǔ yè: the fifteenth night
故人 gù rén: old friend
钟漏 zhōng lòu: bell and water clock

About the poet: Bai Juyi

Bai Juyi (also romanized Po Chü-i; courtesy name Letian) wrote in a famously plain style — legend says he read drafts to an old woman and revised anything she could not understand. An outspoken official, he was exiled to Jiangzhou and later governed Hangzhou and Suzhou. His poems were hugely popular in Heian Japan.

Lifetime: 772–846. Other famous works: On the Night of the Fifteenth of the Eighth Month, on Duty in the Palace, Thinking of Yuan Zhen (八月十五日夜禁中独直对月忆元九); A Question for Liu the Nineteenth (问刘十九); A New Mountain Cottage Below Incense Burner Peak, Written on the East Wall (香炉峰下新卜山居草堂初成偶题东壁); Grass on the Ancient Plain: A Farewell (赋得古原草送别); Song of Everlasting Sorrow (长恨歌); The Song of the Lute (琵琶行); The Old Charcoal Seller (卖炭翁).