一去二三里
Two or three li along the way,
烟村四五家
Four or five homes in a smoky village.
亭台六七座
Six or seven pavilions stand,
八九十枝花
Eight, nine, ten flowering branches.
What the poem means
A mountain village appears through cooking smoke, with pavilions and flowers along the way. Numbers from one to ten give the scene a playful rhythm; they are not a precise inventory.
Meet the poet
Shao Yong was a Song dynasty poet. This poem weaves the numbers one to ten into a village scene.
Shao Yong · More poems →