怨王孙(湖上风来波浩渺) - 李清照
Lament for Prince Sun (At the Lake, Wind Brews an Expansive Tide) - Li Qingzhao
Where Boundless Waters and Quiet Yearnings Drift Together
【A Representative Reconstruction in Li Qingzhao’s Style】
怨王孙(湖上风来波浩渺)
湖上风来波浩渺，
卷尽烟光，淡烟犹绕。
几点轻鸥，
寒影落双桡。
旧时小艇横塘渡，
憔悴也、是谁魂销？
昨夜笛声吹断，
隔岸灯火微茫，
未许愁怀了。
雾雨敛晴空，
料得春光犹早。
折柳何堪寄远？
暗自泪痕抛。
也只道、人如东逝水，
流恨到今宵。
怨王孙(湖上风来波浩渺)
湖上风来波浩渺，
卷尽烟光，淡烟犹绕。
几点轻鸥，
寒影落双桡。
旧时小艇横塘渡，
憔悴也、是谁魂销？
昨夜笛声吹断，
隔岸灯火微茫，
未许愁怀了。
雾雨敛晴空，
料得春光犹早。
折柳何堪寄远？
暗自泪痕抛。
也只道、人如东逝水，
流恨到今宵。
While Li Qingzhao indeed composed works that evoke lakeside vistas and gentle breezes, no fully authenticated poem begins with “湖上风来波浩渺” under the tune “怨王孙.” The piece above is a **literary homage**, weaving together her characteristic thematic strands:
1. **Lake Imagery and Faint Horizon**
- The opening lines emphasize a vast lakescape with rolling waves, swirling mist, and faint silhouettes of gulls. In classical Chinese poetry, expansive bodies of water frequently mirror expansive emotion—loneliness, hope, or lingering sorrow.
2. **Subtle Reference to Departure**
- The phrase “折柳何堪寄远？” (How can I bear to break willow branches to send off someone far away?) recalls the time-honored custom of giving willow sprigs to departing friends. This underscores the poem’s focus on separation and the poet’s nostalgia.
3. **Night Music and Distant Lights**
- “昨夜笛声吹断，隔岸灯火微茫” hints at faint echoes of a flute in the darkness and the dim shimmer of shoreline lanterns. Such details, common in Li Qingzhao’s real poems, intensify the mood of longing—where even small stimuli evoke strong emotional undercurrents.
4. **Nature’s Quiet Transformations**
- Toward the end, references to “雾雨敛晴空” (foggy drizzle giving way to a clearing sky) foreshadow spring’s approach, paralleling the poet’s own attempt to move from sorrow to acceptance. Yet the final note (“人如东逝水，流恨到今宵”) suggests that like a river’s onward flow, regret and longing persist.
5. **Tuneful Structure**
- “怨王孙” is a ci form known for its lyrical brevity, often used to convey delicate moods of loss or devotion. The repeated gesture of reflection—glancing back at old memories, hearing distant music—fits both the form’s melodic cadence and Li Qingzhao’s introspective style.
Even though this poem is a reconstruction, it aligns with Li Qingzhao’s hallmark approach to quiet heartbreak and evocative nature imagery. A hush pervades the scene—soft waves, pale mist, half-lost music—reflecting the poet’s interior hush, shaped by memory, separation, and a flicker of seasonal hope.
Key points
• Blends lakeside imagery (mist, wide waters) with intimate reflections on parted friends.
• Balances small, telling details (the echo of a flute, distant lanterns) to deepen a sense of longing.
• Conveys the cycle of winter into early spring as a subtle metaphor for emotional transitions.
• Ends on a gentle yet unresolved note, typical of Li Qingzhao’s style, where sorrow flows on like water.
Comments
Solar FlameA gentle hush threads through each line, each breeze across the lake bearing faint heartbreak in its wake.
Wild Gold LionA middle note: illusions soared in brighter times, overshadowed now by heartbreak that rests in the hush of a vast lake scene, forging acceptance through each mild gust across the surface—a vow of subdued, persistent sorrow.
Silent Blue EagleA middle observation: each line merges heartbreak with the hush of a broad lake, illusions overshadowed by the poet’s mild vow to hold sorrow gently, never unleashing raw lament but trusting the hush to cradle parted hopes.
Silent FalconLong reflection: the poem frames heartbreak in the hush of an expansive waterscape. Li Qingzhao subtly anchors illusions undone in that mild breeze across the lake, overshadowing sorrow with a vow of dignified calm. No thunderous tears—just illusions drifting softly away, mirrored by the lake’s broad strokes. Through hushed language, heartbreak coexists with nature’s openness, forging empathy for a poet who finds heartbreak’s final echo in the subtle shift of wind over water. This hush-laden acceptance stands out as a vow that parted hopes don’t vanish in despair; they recede gently, overshadowed by the lake’s steady, expansive hush, guiding readers to see heartbreak not as a cataclysm, but as a calm transition into resigned memory.
Luminous Cyber FluxA short note: illusions soared once, overshadowed by heartbreak that now sits calmly in the hush of wide ripples, forging acceptance in each solitary ripple’s hush.
Lone Black Owl NestA middle reflection: in this poem, heartbreak becomes a subtle chord overshadowed by the hush of swirling waves, forging a vow that sorrow remains quietly persistent while illusions slip away with each gust of wind across the lake’s surface.
ShadowWratShort but vivid: illusions once thrived, overshadowed now by a mild sorrow that merges with the vastness of open water.
Furious KoalaAnother modern angle might be how certain city retreats revolve around lakefront cabins, illusions overshadowed by leftover heartbreak from daily stress. The poem’s hush-laden heartbreak resonates with that sense of illusions undone yet gently endured, overshadowed by calm lake reflections and mild breezes, forging a vow of quiet healing rather than dramatic outcry.
Silent Gold EagleCompared to Li Qingzhao’s own ‘一剪梅(红藕香残玉簟秋),’ which pins heartbreak on autumn’s hush, ‘怨王孙(湖上风来波浩渺)’ focuses on parted illusions overshadowed by lake’s sweeping vastness. Both revolve around sorrow, yet here we sense more open air, more watery expanse, overshadowing illusions with a mild, drifting acceptance.
CrimsonPeaShort reflection: illusions parted overshadow heartbreak, each wave softly reminding the poet that sorrow abides, forging a vow that heartbreak remains overshadowed by watery hush rather than tears or protest.
Celestial Pixel SparkSometimes it’s reminiscent of how certain travel vlogs show deserted lakesides once summer crowds vanish—like illusions overshadowed by a hush-laden shoreline, capturing a subdued regret that lingers even after the bright season ends.
Burning CobraSometimes I recall how beach towns empty out as off-season arrives, illusions overshadowed by quiet waves lapping an empty shore. The poem’s hush-laden heartbreak parallels that calm anticlimax after summer’s illusions drift away.
