Poetry Index
Complete collection of poems, songs, verdicts, and riddles from Dream of the Red Chamber.
Poetry Index
Verdict on Qingwen
判词A clear moon is hard to find, bright clouds are quick to scatter. Her heart aspired higher than the sky, yet her station was lowly.
Chapter 5
Verdict on Xiren
判词In vain her gentle, yielding ways— In vain they say she's sweet as orchid bloom.
Chapter 5
Erta: Prelude to A Dream of Red Mansions
曲词Since the dawn of creation, who has been the lover true? All because the wind and moon stirred passion deep.
Chapter 5
Erta: A Lifelong Mistake
曲词All say it is a match of gold and jade; But I recall only the pledge between stone and flower.
Chapter 5
Vain Longing
曲词One is a fairy flower from the Celestial Garden, The other a flawless piece of precious jade.
Chapter 5
Birds Scatter to the Woods
曲词Those who held office see their estates in ruins; The wealthy find their gold and silver gone;
Chapter 5
Burying Flowers: A Lament
诗The blossoms fade and falling fill the air, Of fragrance and bright hues bereft and bare.
Chapter 27
A Ballad of Peach Blossoms
歌Outside the curtain, peach blossoms in a gentle east wind; Inside the curtain, she is too listless for her morning toilette.
Chapter 70
Autumn Night: Wind and Rain at the Window
诗Autumn flowers pale and autumn grasses sag; The guttering autumn lamp makes autumn nights so long.
Chapter 45
Three Verses on a Handkerchief: I
诗Eyes brimming store up tears that fall in vain; Shed in secret, scattered idly—for whom?
Chapter 34
Three Verses on a Handkerchief: II
诗Pearls and jade scatter as she weeps in secret; All day long her heart is listless, all day long at leisure.
Chapter 34
Three Verses on a Handkerchief: III
诗Colored threads can hardly catch the pearls upon her face; The ancient stains on the Xiang River have grown faint.
Chapter 34
Ode to White Begonia: Baoyu
诗Her autumn face in pale hue framed by layered gates; Seven tiers amassed until the pot brims white with snow.
Chapter 37
Ode to the Crab: Baoyu
诗Holding the claw, more delighted in the cassia's shade; Dashing vinegar, crushing ginger—excitement near to madness.
Chapter 38
Xi Jiang Yue: Mocking Jia Baoyu (I)
词For no reason he seeks sorrow and courts resentment; At times he seems a fool, at times a madman.
Chapter 3
Xi Jiang Yue: Mocking Jia Baoyu (II)
词In wealth he knew not how to enjoy his lot; In poverty he could not endure the desolation.
Chapter 3
Rhapsody on the Fairy Disenchantment
赋Just departed from the willow grove, newly emerged from the flower chamber. Wherever she walks, birds startle from the courtyard trees;
Chapter 5
Baochai's Lantern Riddle
灯谜After the morning audience, who carries smoke in both sleeves? Beside the zither, within the quilt—always without companion.
Chapter 22
Couplet on the Archway of the Land of Illusion
对联When the false is taken for the true, the true becomes false; Where nothing is treated as something, something becomes nothing.
Chapter 5
Elegy for the Hibiscus Maiden
赋In the first year of the era of Unchanging Peace, in the month when cassia and lotus compete in fragrance, on a day of helpless sorrow—the Turbid Jade of Happy Red Court, with clusters of flower stamens, ice-mermaid gauze, Seeping Fragrance spring water, and maple-dew tea, though these four offerings are humble, presents them in sincerity and faith, offering this sacrifice before the Hibiscus Maiden who presides over autumn beauty in the White Emperor's Palace:
Chapter 78