Poetry Index
Complete collection of poems, songs, verdicts, and riddles from Dream of the Red Chamber.
Poetry Index
Joint Verdict on Daiyu and Baochai
判词Alas for her wifely virtue, the weaver who stopped her loom! How pitiful her poetic gift, like willow-down in the breeze!
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: Daiyu
诗The gauze curtain half-rolled, the door half-closed; Ice ground to soil, jade fashioned into pot.
Chapter 37
Chrysanthemum Poems: Singing of Chrysanthemums
诗The relentless poetry demon haunts me day and night; By the fence, leaning on a rock, I murmur to myself.
Chapter 38
Chrysanthemum Poems: Questioning the Chrysanthemum
诗Wishing to ask of autumn's heart—no one else knows; Murmuring, hands behind my back, I knock at the eastern fence.
Chapter 38
Ode to the Crab: Daiyu
诗In iron armor with long halberd, even in death unyielding; Piled on the plate, a feast for eager eyes.
Chapter 38
Couplet on the Gate of Rongguo Mansion
对联Imperially Constructed Rongguo Mansion
Chapter 3
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
Willow Catkin Lyric: Daiyu
词Powder falls on Hundred-Flower Isle; Fragrance fades at the Swallow Tower.
Chapter 70
Xiangling's Moon Poem: I
诗The moon hangs mid-heaven, the night air cold; Its clear radiance bright, its shadow round.
Chapter 48
Xiangling's Moon Poem: III
诗Her brilliance tries to hide—but that is hard; Her shadow ever graceful, her soul ever cold.
Chapter 48