Zhang Ji journeys into a heart of darkness

Mooring at Maple Bridge in a frightening night

Mooring at Maple Bridge in the Night

Zhang Ji

.

moonfalls and crowcalls and skyfrost

past fisherhearths under rilly maples watching me

fearsleep

in the cold hills outside old Suzhou, a nightshrine

in my wayboat it knells to me midnight

---

The meaning of this poem is contested. "Maple bridge" may have been just a bridge near some maple trees; or it may have been the name of a bridge. "Crowcalls" and "fearsleep" may have been the sound of a crow calling and uneasy rest, or they may be place names (there are two hills named Crowcaw Hill and Uneasy Sleep Hill, but most sources believe they were given those names later, because of this poem).  The "rilly maples" may in fact be two bridges, one called River Bridge, the other called Maple Bridge. So an alternative translation would be:

The moon sets on Crowcaw, and the sky is full of frost,

Fishermen make fires at Maple and River Bridge, across from Uneasy Sleep.

There's a temple outside old Suzhou, in the cold Hanshan Hills,

The toll of its midnight bell rings down to my ferryboat.

The Buddhist temples around Suzhou did strike a midnight bell, unlike temples elsewhere.

The historical uncertainty rather suits this poem. Even if Zhang Ji was using existing place names, he was making deliberate use of their literal meaning, and they fill the poem with confusion: in the pitch darkness after the moon has set, crows which should be asleep start cawing; frost which should be on the ground fills the sky; the fishermen's red fires blend confusingly with red maple leaves and reflections off the river; temple bells ring at the wrong time; and even when a logical explanation for the bell does present itself, it comes from less-than-reassuring Cold Hill Temple… This poem was a fever dream when Zhang Ji wrote it, and the intervening thousand years have only unsettled the meaning of what was already an unsettling piece of writing.

Why such a grim tone? One thing which is known about this poem is its date: the year of An Lushan's rebellion. The empire had fallen; the end of the world had come. Like Du Fu (see The Wind Destroys my Cottage Roof), Zhang Ji had good reason to sleep badly.

---

张继  枫桥夜泊

月落乌啼霜满天，江枫渔火对愁眠。

姑苏城外寒山寺，夜半钟声到客船。