楊萬里 小泊新豐市 translation: A Small Mooring at Xinfeng City, by Yang Wanli

This is a very rough annotation / translation of the poem 小泊新豐市 (Xiǎobó Xīnfēngshì), ‘Ballad of South of the Mountains’, by the Song Dynasty Chinese poet 楊萬里 (Yáng Wànlǐ).

The annotations below are complete guesswork. If you have any suggestions, please share them in the comments at the end of the page.

小泊新豐市 Xiǎobó Xīnfēngshì [little] [mooring] [Xin] [Feng] [city] A Small Mooring at Xinfeng City

也知小倦泊樓船， Yě zhī xiǎo juàn bó lóu chuán, [also] [know] [small] [lock up] [moor] [deck] [boat] One knows of a small place to moor up the storied boat; (I think 倦 here might be 圈.)

何苦爭先柳岸邊。 hékǔ zhēngxiān liǔ àn biān. [why] [hardship] [compete] [first] [willow] [shore] [side] why bother competing for space with the willows on the shore?

須把碧篙搖綠淨， Xū bǎ bì gāo yáo lǜ jìng, [must] [hold] [jade] [punt pole] [shake] [green] [clean] One must grasp the jade-green punt pole, shake it clean of its green coating;

舟人不惜水中天。 zhōu rén bùxī shuǐzhōng tiān. [boat] [person] [not] [regret] [water] [in] [sky] the boatman does not spare the reflection of the sky in the water.

If you have any suggestions, please share them in the comments below.