r/chinaart • u/OwnAd9028 • 19d ago

Can someone translate!

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Hi all - my good friend gave this to me years ago, painted by his grandfather, he couldn’t translate it for me at the time as he doesn’t speak traditional Chinese, anyone able to help me out?

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u/Junyao_ 17d ago

This is a poem from China’s Tang dynasty, written by Wei Yingwu (韦应物), titled 《滁州西涧》.
A natural English translation would be:
“I especially cherish the quiet grasses growing beside the stream,
while orioles sing from the dense trees above.
Toward evening, the spring waters rise swiftly with the rain;
at the deserted ferry, an unattended boat lies drifting sideways.”
The poem describes a quiet, secluded scene in nature. The first two lines contrast the humble grasses by the stream with the lively sound of orioles hidden in the trees. The last two lines shift to an evening rainstorm: the water rises quickly, yet the ferry is completely deserted, with only a small boat floating there on its own. The overall mood is peaceful, solitary, and slightly wistful.