Jade Dressing-Table, Quan Deyu (Tang Shi #243)
Last night, he undid my girdle—
Today, a spider hovers here.
I can’t discard my makeup now,
I shouldn’t give up my gaozhen.
玉台体
昨夜裙带解，
今朝蟢子飞。
铅华不可弃，
莫是篙砧归。
The speaker seems to be a concubine or wife whose husband spent the night with her for the first time in a while. The name of the spider (蟢, a type of orb-weaver) is a homonym of 喜, happy event. The gaozhen (literally, wooden anvil, or something like that?) was part of a married woman’s outfit. I’m even less certain about the translation of the title.
Quan Deyu is another only-poem-in-collection poet.
—L.
Today, a spider hovers here.
I can’t discard my makeup now,
I shouldn’t give up my gaozhen.
玉台体
昨夜裙带解，
今朝蟢子飞。
铅华不可弃，
莫是篙砧归。
The speaker seems to be a concubine or wife whose husband spent the night with her for the first time in a while. The name of the spider (蟢, a type of orb-weaver) is a homonym of 喜, happy event. The gaozhen (literally, wooden anvil, or something like that?) was part of a married woman’s outfit. I’m even less certain about the translation of the title.
Quan Deyu is another only-poem-in-collection poet.
—L.