Birdsong Stream
Tang Wangwei
The people are idle, the osmanthus flowers are falling, the night is quiet and the spring mountains are empty.
When the moon comes out, birds startle the mountains, and they sing in the spring stream.
"Birdsong Stream" is the first poem in the "Five Miscellaneous Poems on Yunxi River by Huangfu Yue" written by Wang Wei, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. This poem describes the quiet and beautiful scenery in the mountains on a spring night, focusing on expressing the tranquility and beauty of the spring mountains at night. The whole poem is closely linked to the word "quiet", which is very much like a landscape sketch. The poet used moving scenes such as falling flowers, moonrise, and birdsong to highlight the tranquility of the spring mountains on a moonlit night, achieving the artistic effect of contrasting the stillness with movement, and vividly sketching out a poetic and picturesque picture of "the mountains with birdsong are more secluded" picture. The whole poem is intended to describe tranquility, but it is treated with moving scenes. This contrasting technique reflects the poet's Zen heart and interest.