Sui Palace
Author: Li Shangyin
This poem is included in: Three Hundred Tang Poems
Seven-Character Regulated Verse
Sui Palace
Li Shangyin
紫泉宫殿锁烟霞
欲取芜城作帝家
The Purple Spring Palace is locked in mist and clouds,
He wished to make the ruined city his imperial home.
玉玺不缘归日角
锦帆应是到天涯
Had the imperial seal not fallen to the sun-browed lord,
The brocade sails would surely have reached the world’s end.
于今腐草无萤火
终古垂杨有暮鸦
Now in the rotting grass no fireflies gleam,
Forever by the drooping willows evening crows cry.
地下若逢陈后主
岂宜重问后庭花
If in the underworld he meets the last lord of Chen,
How could he ask again about the Backyard Flowers song?