Time for lust

Quan Deyu was not above a bit of heavy breathing

Jade Pavilion Songs (3)
Quan Deyu

Translucent sheen,
    Thin silken robe,
        And rounded wrists
            Of dainty jade.
We meet, we meet,
    I do not speak,
        Just smile beside
            Embroidered sheets.

权德舆  玉台体十二首·其三
隐映罗衫薄，轻盈玉腕圆。
相逢不肯语，微笑画屏前。

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*Now edited - thanks to Mu Kai, who spotted that I had completely misread one of the characters.

Quan Deyu (759-818) wrote this series of poems in imitation of an earlier style, known as court poetry. He was particularly inspired by a collection called New Songs from the Jade Terrace, edited by Xu Ling in the 6^th century.  The phrase “jade terrace,” which appears in my title as “jade pavilion,” meant the sumptuous apartments that wealthy women lived in; it could also mean the dresser at which a woman would do her make up. In this context, jade also has an erotic association, as a beautiful woman’s pale skin would traditionally be described as “like jade.” Court poetry was sensual and pleasurable. It did not aim for nobility or moral improvement, but was content to describe and create physical and lyrical beauty.

This series is mainly about or in the voice of a wife who is separated from her husband.

In this poem, the sexual element is front and centre. We meet our wife wearing a thin gown. The rounded wrists are a development from the usual locus of beauty, which is jade-like hands. This suggests the eyes tracking up the arms toward more intimate areas. I had to make a little intervention in the text in the last line: Quan has the wife smile beside a painted screen, which was a piece of fancy bedroom furniture. These days the association would not be so clear, so in the translation I let her smile by embroidered sheets. Either way, the direction of travel is clear.