一㸃櫻桃嬌艶，
樊素不尋常。
何用頻含雞舌，
彷彿蕙蘭芳。
座上吹罷笙簧，
徐徐換羽移商。
晩來月照紗㡡，
並肩私語生香。
A little cherry, delicate and sweet,[1]
As rare as Fan Su[’s mouth].[2]
Why is there often a “chicken tongue” inside?[3]
To smell as [pleasant as] sweet-basil and orchids.
After playing the reed-pipe in [her] seat,
Drifting gently from yu to shang,[4]
When night descends and the moon glows through the canopy of gauze,
[She] sits by, breathing whispers of scent.
* From Sun Mo 孫默 () ed., Shiwu jia ci 十五家詞, Wenyuange Siku Quanshu 文淵閣四庫全書 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1987) edition, vol. 1494, 20.15a; for a quick reference, see here.
[1] A common metaphor for a girl’s mouth.
[2] Fan Su was a singing girl in Bai Juyi’s 白居易 (772-846) household known for having a small, attractive mouth that looks like a cherry.
[3] Jishe 雞舌 (chicken tongue) refers to cloves, often used to freshen breath.
[4] Yu and shang are two notes in the traditional Chinese pentatonic scale. They can also refer to the two musical modes starting with these two notes.
A girl playing sheng (the reed-pipe mentioned in the poem); detail of "Gongyuetu" 宮樂圖 (A Palace Concert) by an anonymous artist from the Tang dynasty (618-907)
Image credit: National Palace Museum, Taipei
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