English中文
Shengzhazi: The New Moon Curved Like a Brow
新月曲如眉，
未有团圞意。
红豆不堪看，
满眼相思泪。
The new moon is curved like a brow, with no thought yet of rounding; the red beans are unbearable to look at, my eyes brim with tears of longing.
终日劈桃穰，
仁在心儿里。
两朵隔墙花，
早晚成连理。
All day I crack peach stones — the kernel is inside, and you are in my heart. Two blossoms on either side of the wall — sooner or later they will grow as joined branches.
Reading notes
This page follows the workbook and the arrangement in Cilin Wanxuan in including the poem under Niu Xiji. Texts vary between 团圆 and 团圞, 擘 and 劈, and 人 and 仁; this page retains the workbook wording. 桃穰 means a peach stone. 仁, the kernel inside it, sounds like 人, a person: the image also places the beloved in the speaker’s heart. Joined branches represent the lovers’ hoped-for union.