[updated September 2022]
Poem of Bamboo Branches: No. 1
竹 枝 词
瞿 唐 峡 口 水 烟 低
白 帝 城 头 月 向 西。
唱 到 竹 枝 声 咽 处
寒 猿 暗 鸟 一 时 啼。
Zhu Zhi Ci
Ou tang xia kou shui yan di
Bai di cheng tou yue xiang xi.
Chang dao zhu sheng yan chu
Han yuan an niao yi shi ti.
Poem of Bamboo Branches: No. 1
Mouth of Qu Tang gorge, river mists lying low
Baidi city wall with a crescent moon setting in the west.
Singing Bamboo Branches melodies so high pitched they near the breaking point
Cold monkeys and hidden birds wail their plaintive sounds.
Notes:
This and the next three poems are called “ci poems” (词). They are intended to be sung to a predetermined melody. Here the melody is zhuzhi music (Bamboo Branches) from around the Baidi region of Hubei Province. Today we know the city as Chongqing.
Qu Tang gorge: One of the Three Gorges on the Changjiang (Yanzi River).