The stars and the turning of the seasons

Liu Fangping records a moment

A Moonlit Night
Liu Fangping

When the Big Dipper serves a level measure
And the Little Dipper leans,
And late at night half of our home
Is moonbeams,
Then the warm weather has arrived:
We suddenly know it’s spring.
Once again through the green window nets comes the sound
As insects sing.

刘方平  月夜
更深月色半人家，
北斗阑干南斗斜。
今夜偏知春气暖，
虫声新透绿窗纱。

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Liu Fangping was a high Tang poet. His dates are unknown, but he was writing during the reign of Xuanzong, and alive during the An Lushan Rebellion. Apparently he was of Xiongnu ancestry, even though the Xiongnu did not really exist by this time.

The constellations in the poem are the 北斗 (“northern ladle”), which is our Big Dipper or Plough; and the 南斗 (“southern ladle”), which is not the same as the Little Dipper known today, but looks quite similar. The southern ladle is in fact a group of stars within the constellation Sagittarius.

Here’s Cinix with the reconstructed reading: