Bùsuànzǐ · Composed While Residing at Dinghui Temple in Huangzhou - Su Shi

"Bùsuànzǐ · Composed While Residing at Dinghui Temple in Huangzhou" | Su Shi The waning moon hangs on sparse tung trees, the clepsydra's drip ceases, and the night grows still. Who sees the recluse wandering alone, a solitary goose's shadow drifting and vast? Startled, it turns its head back; it holds regrets no one understands. Having picked clean the cold branches, it refuses to perch, lonely on the cold sandbar. This ci was written during Su Shi's exile in Huangzhou. He uses the solitary goose to symbolize his loneliness and to express his unwillingness to conform to the world. The first part depicts a cold moonlit night, sparse tung trees, and a lonely goose wandering alone, like a soul no one understands. The second part describes it startlingly taking flight and looking back, holding unspoken regrets, and refusing to perch even after searching all the cold branches. "Having picked clean the cold branches, it refuses to perch" is the soul of this poem. It can represent the desolation of having nowhere to settle, or the persistence of refusing to compromise and lose oneself. The poem concludes with "lonely on the cold sandbar." There are no passionate cries of sorrow, only the chill and solitude. Su Shi transformed his life's disappointments into the image of a solitary goose, leaving behind a lingering sense of noble isolation that is hard to articulate. This poem has also been used in songs by Steve Chou and Lala Hsu.