A Question for Liu Nineteen

Lines 1–2: getting the room ready

The first line gives the drink before it gives a drinker. 綠蟻, literally “green ants,” describes the small particles or froth on freshly brewed, unfiltered wine. It is a conventional expression for the drink, not a claim that insects were put in it. 醅 names wine before it has been strained. “Greenish froth” in our translation makes the referent clear; the compound gloss explains the wine froth while retaining the literal ant image.

The red belongs to the clay stove, not explicitly to a flame. Fire is there in 火爐, but the Chinese does not make the room blaze. The first two lines contain no verb that needs an English “is.” They place two things within reach: something to drink, something to warm it or warm the company. The green and red sharpen the small scene.

Lines 3–4: an invitation, not an answer

雪 is a verb here: the sky is about to snow. 欲 means “about to” in this weather statement, rather than a human wish. 晚來 places the invitation toward evening. None of this requires an elaborate storm outside the window. The snow has not yet fallen in the words on the page.

無 at the end works as a question particle: “can you drink a cup, or not?” It does not cancel the cup. The literal gloss sounds abrupt in English; the translation turns it into an invitation and supplies “come,” which the Chinese leaves unstated. We do not get Liu’s answer. Ending at the question makes the reader feel the available seat.

The title identifies the addressee through a surname and a number used within a family or kin group. “Nineteen” is not his age. The poem gives no grounds for identifying this Liu with the more famous poet Liu Yuxi.

Four lines of five characters make a five-character jueju. The second and fourth endings, 爐 and 無, rhyme. The first two lines balance noun phrases before the weather statement and the direct question change the pace.

Read the opening as two compact units: 綠蟻 / 新醅酒 and 紅泥 / 小火爐. Our pinyin is modern Mandarin, with 一 read yì before the first-tone 杯. A historical level/oblique grid is omitted here rather than inferred from Mandarin tones. The warmth of the poem comes from its arrangement and invitation; a tonal table is not needed to notice those.

Bai Juyi often lets a small social action carry a poem: visiting, sending a letter, or offering a drink. Here the Tang setting stays domestic. Nothing in the four lines requires a court incident, a hidden complaint, or a biography of the guest.

Compare the last question with Sending Yuan Er to Anxi. Wang Wei has company and is about to lose it. Bai Juyi has everything ready except the company. Drinking Alone beneath the Moon starts after that absence has become the condition of the evening. These belong together on the wine shelf because the cup changes the relationship between people.

The Chinese source can be read in the Wikisource transcription of 《御定全唐詩》, juan 440. The English translation, gloss, and reading notes on this page were written for PoemWell.