Listening to the Shu Monk Jun Play the Qin
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
西下峨眉峰。
为我一挥手，
如听万壑松。
客心洗流水，
馀响入霜钟。
不觉碧山暮，
秋云暗几重。
English translation
The Shu monk, cradling his green-jade lute, came down westward from Mount Emei.
For me he swept his hand across the strings, it was as if I heard the pines of ten thousand ravines.
The traveler's heart was washed in flowing water, the lingering notes joined the frosty bell.
I did not notice the green hills darken with dusk, nor how many folds of autumn cloud had dimmed.
Meaning
The monk Jun of Shu cradles his green-silk lute; he comes from Mount Emei in the west.
For me he raises his hand and plays the famous tune 'Wind Through the Pines', and I seem to hear the sound of pine waves in ten thousand valleys.
My heart feels as if washed by flowing water, and the lingering notes blend with the autumn frost-bells.
Before I know it, dusk has wrapped the green hills, and the autumn clouds lie dim across the evening sky.
Background
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Zhan Ying holds in his Chronological Study of Li Bai's Prose and Poetry that this poem was written in 753 (the twelfth year of the Tianbao era of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang), while Li Bai was at Xuancheng (in present-day Anhui). Pei Fei's Outline Chronicle of Li Bai follows the same view.