POEM
游子吟Yóu Zǐ YínSong of the Wanderer
- Dynasty
- Tang
- Author
- 孟郊 Mèng Jiāo (Meng Jiao)
- Genre
- 古体诗
- Lines
- 6
- Era
- c. 8th century
THE POEM — LINE BY LINE
Tap a line for word-by-word gloss.
#1慈母手中线Cí mǔ shǒu zhōng xiànIn a loving mother's hands, a thread;word by word
#2游子身上衣Yóu zǐ shēn shàng yīon her wandering son's body, a coat.word by word
#3临行密密缝Lín xíng mì mì féngBefore he goes, she sews it stitch after stitch,word by word
临línon the point of; before行xíngleave; depart密mìclose; dense (密密: stitch after stitch)密mìclose; dense (密密: stitch after stitch)缝féngsew#4意恐迟迟归Yì kǒng chí chí guīfearing that his return will be long delayed.word by word
意yìheart; thought恐kǒngfear; worry迟chílate; delayed (迟迟: long delayed)迟chílate; delayed (迟迟: long delayed)归guīreturn#6报得三春晖Bào dé sān chūn huīcould ever repay the warm light of the spring sun?word by word
POEM IN PLAIN ENGLISH
A plain-English guide, not a literary translationIn a loving mother's hands a thread; on her wandering son's body, a coat. Before he leaves she sews it stitch after stitch, fearing his return will be long delayed. Who says that the heart of a blade of grass could ever repay the warm light of the spring sun? The mother is the sun, the child the small grass — the poem's whole point is that the debt can never be repaid, only felt. It is the most famous mother poem in the Chinese language. This is a plain-English guide, not a literary translation.
BACKGROUND & IMAGERY
Meng Jiao (751-814) was a poor, late-blooming Tang poet who spent decades away from home preparing for the imperial exams. 游子吟 ('Song of the Wanderer') is the poem by which he is remembered, and its last two lines have made 寸草春晖 a standard way of speaking about a mother's love that can never be repaid. The six-line form (no strict quatrain or eight-line pattern) marks it as an old-style poem (古体诗).
HISTORIC TRANSLATION
Thread from the hands of a doting mother
Worked into the clothes of a far-off journeying son.
Before his departure, were the close, fine stitches set,
Lest haply his return be long delayed.
The heart — the inch-long grass —
Who will contend that either can repay
The gentle brightness of the Third Month of Spring.
Amy Lowell, Fir-Flower Tablets (1921)
Public domain (translator Amy Lowell died 1925; first published 1921, before the 1929 US safety line).
TRUST & SOURCES
- Reviewed by
- AI-assisted editorial review
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-15
Sources
- 《唐诗三百首》通行本（中华书局点校本）
- 本站飞花令语料 feihualing.db（poem 397021） — 文本以通行本为准，库本仅行级参考（库本与通行本一致）
- Amy Lowell & Florence Ayscough, Fir-Flower Tablets (1921) — 公版译本，逐条登记于 license-ledger-poetry.json；书中题为 'Sung to the Air: "The Wanderer"'（p. 127），逐字对照 1921 初版影印（archive.org item cu31924023366630）
- Original English paraphrase & gloss — 本站原创学习释义，非文学译本（plain-English guide, not a literary translation）
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