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Tang Dynasty Jueju Li Bai

For Wang Changling, Demoted to Longbiao

聞王昌齡左遷龍標遙有此寄

Wén Wáng Chānglíng zuǒqiān Lóngbiāo yáo yǒu cǐ jì

An absent friend receives a sorrowful message entrusted to the moon and wind. Read the Chinese, pinyin, word meanings, and original English translation.

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Read the original and its translation together. Open a line’s word meanings for a closer look.

About the text and pronunciation

The simplified view changes character forms, not the edition. Notes and sources retain the cited text.

The Chinese source is shown in traditional characters by default, with a simplified view available. Pinyin is modern standard Mandarin, a reading aid, not Tang or Song pronunciation.

Word by word, in the order of the line. A gloss is a crib. It is not the translation.

01

楊花落盡子規啼，

yáng huā luò jìn zǐ guī tí

The willow catkins have fallen away; the cuckoo calls.

Word meanings — Line 1
  1. 楊花 yáng huā willow catkins
  2. 落盡 luò jìn all fallen
  3. 子規 zǐ guī cuckoo
  4. 啼 tí call
02

聞道龍標過五溪。

wén dào lóng biāo guò wǔ xī

I hear that the man bound for Longbiao has passed the Five Streams.

Word meanings — Line 2
  1. 聞道 wén dào hear that
  2. 龍標 lóng biāo Longbiao (here its official)
  3. 過 guò pass
  4. 五溪 wǔ xī Five Streams
03

我寄愁心與明月，

wǒ jì chóu xīn yǔ míng yuè

I entrust my grieving heart to the bright moon,

Word meanings — Line 3
  1. 我 wǒ I
  2. 寄 jì send or entrust
  3. 愁心 chóu xīn grieving heart
  4. 與 yǔ to
  5. 明月 míng yuè bright moon
04

隨風直到夜郎西。

suí fēng zhí dào yè láng xī

to go with the wind all the way west of Yelang.

Word meanings — Line 4
  1. 隨風 suí fēng with the wind
  2. 直到 zhí dào all the way to
  3. 夜郎 yè láng Yelang
  4. 西 xī west

English translation by PoemWell.

Read the whole poem

Original

楊花落盡子規啼，

聞道龍標過五溪。

我寄愁心與明月，

隨風直到夜郎西。

Translation

The willow catkins have fallen away; the cuckoo calls.

I hear that the man bound for Longbiao has passed the Five Streams.

I entrust my grieving heart to the bright moon,

to go with the wind all the way west of Yelang.

Try it from memory

After reading, recall the underlined word or phrase in each line. Say its meaning before opening the answer. These prompts use the text edition printed above.

  1. Line 1 · What does the marked word mean?

    楊花落盡子規啼，

    Pronunciation hint

    yáng huā

    Reveal meaning and translation

    楊花 — willow catkins

    The willow catkins have fallen away; the cuckoo calls.

  2. Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?

    我寄愁心與明月，

    Pronunciation hint

    chóu xīn

    Reveal meaning and translation

    愁心 — grieving heart

    I entrust my grieving heart to the bright moon,

  3. Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?

    隨風直到夜郎西。

    Pronunciation hint

    suí fēng

    Reveal meaning and translation

    隨風 — with the wind

    to go with the wind all the way west of Yelang.

One more question: what changes?

Compare the opening and closing lines. What changes in the scene, the speaker’s attention, or the feeling? Choose a Chinese word as evidence, then compare your reading with the notes. More than one answer may be reasonable.

Line-by-line notes →

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Line-by-line notes

Lines 1–2 — A season and a report

落盡 leaves the light willow catkins already fallen, while the cuckoo still calls. 聞道 then brings in news rather than an encounter. 左遷 in the title means demotion. 龍標 is the place of Wang Changling’s new posting and stands for the friend bound there. The English spells out “the man bound for Longbiao” to make that substitution clear.

Lines 3–4 — Sending something across the distance

寄 makes the 愁心 something the speaker can entrust to the moon. The English continues that imagined sending into line four. 直到 gives the message a destination all the way west of Yelang. This page follows 隨風, “with the wind,” where the source also records 隨君, “with you.” The chosen reading lets the wind accompany the impossible delivery. Either way, a moon visible at a distance can give shape to the desire to reach the friend.

Form and tone

The seven-character quatrain begins with sounds and news, then changes to an act of imagined sending. 啼, 溪, and 西 give the rhyming close. The two last lines form one intention across a line break.

See the quatrain guide for the form. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; no unverified historical tone grid is supplied.

Historical context

The title connects the poem to a friend’s adverse change of office. Its sympathy travels through landscape rather than describing an actual letter or reunion. The distances named in the last line intensify the difficulty of reaching the friend.

Continue with Li Bai or the moon shelf.

Sources

Chinese text compared with 聞王昌齡左遷龍標遙有此寄, public transcription on Wikisource. We follow 隨風, “with the wind,” in the linked text. The same source records 隨君, “with you,” as a variant. Punctuation is editorial; the English translation and reading notes are original to PoemWell.

English translation, gloss, and notes by PoemWell. The translation is original to this site.

The Chinese source is shown in traditional characters by default, with a simplified view available. Pinyin is modern standard Mandarin, a reading aid, not Tang or Song pronunciation.

Updated .

Cite this reading

Li Bai. “For Wang Changling, Demoted to Longbiao” (聞王昌齡左遷龍標遙有此寄). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .

https://poemwell.org/poems/to-wang-changling-at-longbiao

Credit the poet for the Chinese original and PoemWell for this translation and commentary. Use the permanent page link above; source editions are listed separately.