![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Last night in the bridal chamber, she set red candles out;
She waits to bow to his parents before their hall at dawn.
Makeup applied, in a low voice she asks her husband,
“How thick my brows are blackened—suitable or no?”
近试上张水部
洞房昨夜停红烛，
待晓堂前拜舅姑。
妆罢低声问夫婿，
画眉深浅入时无。
The Zhang is older poet Zhang Ji (also in the collection, but different Zhang Ji from #273), and the poem was submitted for a critique. Red candles were lit on birthdays and other auspicious celebrations. The final question from the bride also stands in for the student asking, Is my style suitable for the exams or no?
—L.
She waits to bow to his parents before their hall at dawn.
Makeup applied, in a low voice she asks her husband,
“How thick my brows are blackened—suitable or no?”
近试上张水部
洞房昨夜停红烛，
待晓堂前拜舅姑。
妆罢低声问夫婿，
画眉深浅入时无。
The Zhang is older poet Zhang Ji (also in the collection, but different Zhang Ji from #273), and the poem was submitted for a critique. Red candles were lit on birthdays and other auspicious celebrations. The final question from the bride also stands in for the student asking, Is my style suitable for the exams or no?
—L.