232 孟浩然 春曉 translation: Spring Dawn, by Meng Haoran

This is a translation and annotation of the poem 春曉 (Chūn Xiǎo), “Spring Dawn”, by the Tang dynasty poet 孟浩然 (Meng Haoran). The poem is #232 in the collection 300 Tang Poems, and is also known by its first line: 春眠不覺曉 (Chūn Mián Bù Jué Xiǎo).

春曉 Chūn Xiǎo [spring] [dawn] Spring Dawn

春眠不覺曉， Chūn mián bù jué xiǎo, [spring] [sleep] [not] [aware] [dawn] In Spring one sleeps, unaware of dawn;

處處聞啼鳥。 chùchù wén tíniǎo. [place] [place] [hear] [chirp] [bird] everywhere one hears chirping birds.

夜來風雨聲， Yè lái fēngyǔ shēng, [night] [come] [wind] [rain] [sound] In the night came the sound of wind and rain;

花落知多少。 Huā luò zhī duōshǎo. [flower] [fall] [know] [many] [few] who knows how many flowers fell?

Related links:

• 300 Tang Poems (Waters, Farman, Lunde)
• Fifty Five T’ang Poems (Hugh M. Stimson)
• Poems of the Late T’ang (A. C. Graham)
• Spring Dawn Chinese Calligraphy Print
• Translation of 春曉 into English by Ying Sun
• Translation of 春曉 into English by 南緯28°