鸟鸣涧鳥鳴澗
rén人xián闲guì huā桂花là落，
yè夜jìng静chūn春shān山kōng空。
yuè月chū jīng出惊shān山niǎo鸟，
shí时míng鸣chūn春jiàn涧zhōng中。
Line by line
- 人闲桂花落，人閒桂花落， In the stillness, osmanthus blossoms fall;
- 夜静春山空。夜靜春山空。 the spring night is quiet, the hills empty.
- 月出惊山鸟，月出驚山鳥， The rising moon startles the mountain birds,
- 时鸣春涧中。時鳴春澗中。 and now and then they call in the spring stream.
The poet & the story
One of a set Wang Wei wrote on scenes around a friend’s home. The poem is a study in stillness: it names the smallest events — a petal, the moon, a single bird — precisely because nothing else is happening.
Interpretation
In the human quiet, osmanthus flowers fall; the spring night is still and the hills are empty. Then the moon rises and startles the mountain birds, which call now and then in the spring stream. The one small disturbance only deepens the surrounding calm.