"Written on a Cold Night" is a five-character quatrain written by Jie Xisi, a writer in the Yuan Dynasty.
寒夜
[元]揭傒斯
疏星冻霜空，
流月[1]湿林薄[2]。
虚馆[3]人不眠，
时[4]闻一叶落。
注释：
[1]流月：流泻的月光。
[2]林薄：丛杂的草木。
[3]虚馆：空寂凄冷的驿馆。
[4]时：时时，时而。
Cold Night
Jie Xisi
In frosty sky a few stars freeze;
Moonlight wets grass around the trees.
I cannot sleep in empty hall;
Now and then I hear a leaf fall.
“Written on a Cold Night” is a five-character quatrain written by Jie Xisi, a writer in the Yuan Dynasty. The poem describes the poet’s situation of traveling on a cold night, tossing and turning, and the coolness of the cold night, expressing the desolate mood of a sleepless person. The whole poem is desolate and quiet, implicit and lingering, with a very long charm.
