Li Shangyin

Oh, when shall we be trimming wicks again together in your western window?
When shall I be hearing your voice again all night in the rain?

Li Shangyin (c. 813–858), courtesy name Yishan (義山), was a Chinese poet of the late Tang Dynasty.

Quotes

• 君问归期未有期，巴山夜雨涨秋池。
  何当共剪西窗烛，却话巴山夜雨时。
  • You ask when I'm coming: alas, not just yet......
    How the rain filled the pools on that night when we met!
    Ah, when shall we ever snuff candles again,
    And recall the glad hours of that evening of rain?
    • "Souvenirs" (《夜雨寄北》), in Gems of Chinese Literature, trans. Herbert A. Giles
  • Variant translation:
    • You ask me when I am coming. I do not know.
      I dream of your mountains and autumn pools brimming all night with the rain.
      Oh, when shall we be trimming wicks again together in your western window?
      When shall I be hearing your voice again all night in the rain?
      • "A Note on a Rainy Night", in Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty, trans. Witter Bynner

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Li Shangyin at Wikipedia
• Poems by Li Shang-yin at Poem Hunter