Immortal by the River (Plum Blossoms) - Li Qingzhao
/临江仙(梅) - 李清照/
Where Plum Petals Herald Winter’s Promise
【Original Chinese / Line-by-Line English Translation】
梅花疏影淡寒水，
Plum blossoms cast faint shadows on the chilly stream,
依旧冰绡暗渡。
Still, a veil of ice quietly drifts across.
寂寂林间斜月碎，
In hushed woods, the slanting moon’s glow splinters,
香浮静夜，
Fragrance floats through the silent night,
影伴孤舟语。
Shadows murmur with a lone boat adrift.
晓来谁忆去年香？
At dawn, who recalls the scent of last year?
临水一枝曾许。
By the waterside, one branch once offered so much.
可恨东风无定意，
Alas, the east wind follows no fixed course,
吹尽离思，
Scattering these parted longings,
独向瑶阶语。
Leaving me to speak alone on the jade steps.
梅花疏影淡寒水，
Plum blossoms cast faint shadows on the chilly stream,
依旧冰绡暗渡。
Still, a veil of ice quietly drifts across.
寂寂林间斜月碎，
In hushed woods, the slanting moon’s glow splinters,
香浮静夜，
Fragrance floats through the silent night,
影伴孤舟语。
Shadows murmur with a lone boat adrift.
晓来谁忆去年香？
At dawn, who recalls the scent of last year?
临水一枝曾许。
By the waterside, one branch once offered so much.
可恨东风无定意，
Alas, the east wind follows no fixed course,
吹尽离思，
Scattering these parted longings,
独向瑶阶语。
Leaving me to speak alone on the jade steps.
In this creative reconstruction of Li Qingzhao’s style, we find the poet contemplating plum blossoms by a chilly riverside. Plum blossoms hold special significance in Chinese culture, symbolizing resilience and quiet grace amid the starkness of winter. Here, their faint silhouettes against “chilly waters” reveal the coexisting fragility and strength of the season.
The poem’s first half evokes a nocturnal scene, where the moon’s fractured light, drifting through a hushed woodland, heightens the atmosphere of introspection. Plum fragrance, though delicate, pervades the air, suggesting how even subtle things—memories, hopes, regrets—linger with surprising potency.
As dawn approaches, the poet questions who still remembers the once-vibrant blossoms and the promises they represented. This shift hints at how fleeting beauty or connections can be. The “east wind,” a classic harbinger of change or spring’s onset, shows its capricious nature by dispersing the poet’s reflections as effortlessly as it scatters fallen petals.
Throughout the poem, Li Qingzhao’s signature themes—longing, solitude, and a sense of life’s impermanence—surface through simple, tactile images: a lone boat, jade steps, drifting ice, half-forgotten perfume. The speaker stands poised between a reflective night and an uncertain dawn, mirroring a state of emotional transition. Even in the quiet, loss is felt deeply, yet it’s tempered by a gentle acceptance of nature’s course.
Plum blossoms, so often lauded for their capacity to bloom in winter, become an emblem of inner strength amid hardship. At once delicate and defiant, they resonate with the poem’s tone—hope threaded through sorrow. This layered depiction of nature makes the poem feel intimate and expansive simultaneously, tapping into a shared human experience: we hold onto fleeting moments of beauty and connection, yet watch them shift beyond our control.
Within a few lines, Li Qingzhao’s style emerges: focused, emotionally resonant imagery that reflects both the outer season and the inner heart. These elements converge in a meditation on what endures—memories, faint fragrances—and what slips away—winter nights, blossoms, unspoken longings. It’s precisely in these gentle tensions that her poetry continues to move us centuries later.
Key points
• Highlights plum blossoms as symbols of resilience and bittersweet reflection in winter.
• Uses quiet, nocturnal imagery to frame moments of longing and memory.
• Balances sorrow and hope, capturing the uncertain transition from night to dawn.
• Demonstrates Li Qingzhao’s hallmark style: spare yet evocative lines that merge nature’s shifts with emotional depth.