宫词二首·其一 (Two Poems of Palace - No.1)

唐代·张祜(Zhang, Hu) · 27 Dec 2022

One verse of He Manzi’s last song

故国三千里，深宫二十年。
一声何满子，双泪落君前。

— 唐代 · 张祜《宫词二首·其一》

three thousand miles from home,
twenty years deep in the palace,
one verse of He Manzi’s last song.
before the king, two lines of tears

This poem describes the deep sorrow of a women who wasted her best years in the palace, exposing the cruelty of the maid system of Tang Dynasty.

He Manzi is a Cangzhou singer from the Kaiyuan(开元) period, who was sentenced to death. Before his execution, he presented this song to the emperor, hoping to avoid death, but failed. Later people named the song after him, which is often used to symbolize extremaly heartbreaking songs.