Mi Shen Yin (A Leaflike Boat with a Light Sail Furled) - Liu Yong
/迷神引(一叶扁舟轻帆卷) - 柳永/
Drifting Far, Where Autumn Waters Echo Longing
【Original Chinese】
迷神引(一叶扁舟轻帆卷)
一叶扁舟轻帆卷，
对西风回首，故人千里，水长山远。
渐离愁虚牵，思绪难遣。
只谢得、夜寒灯影共凄然。
算而今、淡墨残笺，旧欢不堪重见。
凭谁问、江湖飘泊路，
几许清泪苦相怜？
一任他、雁声过也，琴心自怯。
惆怅处，寒江岸，
潮来潮去千般念。
【English Translation】
A leaflike boat, its light sail furled—
Turning back to face the western wind, I recall dear ones far beyond,
Where rivers stretch on and mountains recede.
Lingering sorrows tug at me, thoughts too tangled to dispel.
Only the cold night lamp stays beside my silent ache.
Now, faint ink stains the leftover pages,
No old joys can bear revisiting.
To whom might I entrust these vagabond journeys?
How many bitter tears might we share?
Let the wild geese cry overhead; my heart under strummed strings still falters.
Here on the chill riverside,
Tides come and go, stirring a thousand reflections in their wake.
迷神引(一叶扁舟轻帆卷)
一叶扁舟轻帆卷，
对西风回首，故人千里，水长山远。
渐离愁虚牵，思绪难遣。
只谢得、夜寒灯影共凄然。
算而今、淡墨残笺，旧欢不堪重见。
凭谁问、江湖飘泊路，
几许清泪苦相怜？
一任他、雁声过也，琴心自怯。
惆怅处，寒江岸，
潮来潮去千般念。
【English Translation】
A leaflike boat, its light sail furled—
Turning back to face the western wind, I recall dear ones far beyond,
Where rivers stretch on and mountains recede.
Lingering sorrows tug at me, thoughts too tangled to dispel.
Only the cold night lamp stays beside my silent ache.
Now, faint ink stains the leftover pages,
No old joys can bear revisiting.
To whom might I entrust these vagabond journeys?
How many bitter tears might we share?
Let the wild geese cry overhead; my heart under strummed strings still falters.
Here on the chill riverside,
Tides come and go, stirring a thousand reflections in their wake.
“Mi Shen Yin (A Leaflike Boat with a Light Sail Furled)” exemplifies Liu Yong’s hallmark fusion of graceful melodies and poignant longing. The ci’s title—“Mi Shen Yin,” or literally “Melody to Enchant the Spirit”—points to the poem’s dreamlike introspection. While the opening scene captures a solitary figure on a small boat in autumn winds, the deeper current is the poet’s unspoken farewell to friends or loved ones now far away.
In classical Chinese poetic tradition, rivers and distant mountains often signal both literal and emotional separations. Here, Liu Yong magnifies this sense of distance by describing a boat journey that seems both inevitable and isolating—there is no turning back, only a wistful glance at the receding shore. The use of wind, lamp shadows, and geese overhead ties nature’s shifting moods to the poet’s own state of mind: as the sky darkens or the geese cry, so does the poet feel the pull of unshakable longing.
Throughout, the poem echoes with images of writing and memory (faint ink, leftover pages). These subtle details suggest that while the past cannot be recaptured (“No old joys can bear revisiting”), it also cannot be entirely relinquished; the poet’s reflections persist through nightfall, carried along by lamplight and shifting tides. This interplay between the physical voyage and the emotional toll of unvoiced farewells underscores how journeys—especially those forced by circumstance—can leave the traveler haunted by what is left behind.
Stylistically, Liu Yong’s ci stands out for its seamless merging of the outer world (the “cold riverside,” the calls of wild geese) with the poet’s interior turmoil. Instead of providing a resolution, the final lines linger in a space of perpetual motion: the tide ebbs and flows, mirroring the poet’s own unquiet heart. Such open-endedness reflects the Song Dynasty’s mastery of the ci form, where carefully chosen images evoke sentiments that remain gently unresolved. Ultimately, this poem suggests that separation, however sorrowful, can inspire both delicate reflection and enduring remembrance—qualities that have made Liu Yong’s verses resonate for centuries.
Key points
• Portrays travel as both a physical crossing of rivers and an emotional journey of separation.
• Juxtaposes tranquil nighttime imagery (lamplight, gentle tides) with deep inner longing.
• Uses spare yet vivid details—folded sails, leftover ink, crying geese—to convey loneliness.
• Embodies ci poetry’s signature blend of melodic structure and nuanced personal reflection.