Autumn Songs of Changxin Palace: No. 3
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
且将团扇共徘徊。
玉颜不及寒鸦色，
犹带昭阳日影来。
English translation
Broom in hand, at daybreak the golden hall is opened; she takes her round fan and lingers with it.
Her jade-white face cannot match the hue of the winter crow, which still carries the sunlight of Zhaoyang.
Meaning
At daybreak she takes up a broom to sweep the dust of the golden hall; in idle boredom she holds a round fan and lingers to and fro.
Her fair face is not worth so much as the looks of a crow, for the crow can still fly in bearing the sunlight of Zhaoyang Palace.
Background
Read the background
Because accounts of Wang Changling's birthplace, the dates of his birth and death, and other important biographical facts do not agree, most of his works cannot be dated, and so when these five "Autumn Songs of the Changxin Palace" were written is likewise difficult to establish. From his biographies in the Old and New Tang Histories and from related scholarship it can be roughly established that Wang Changling was a native of Chang'an in Jingzhao (present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi), that he was born between 690 (the first year of the Tianshou era) and 698 (the first year of Shengli), and that he died around 757 (the second year of the Zhide era). In 727 (the fifteenth year of Kaiyuan), when he was somewhat past thirty, he first passed the jinshi examination. He was appointed collator in the Imperial Library, then passed the broad learning and eloquence examination (boxue hongci), and was subsequently transferred to be defender of Sishui County. Twice he was demoted. These five poems were written during the Tianbao era (reign title of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, 742–756), before his second demotion. This is the third poem of the set.