A classical Chinese line for “Beauty can bloom in winter”

From afar I know it is not snow, because a hidden fragrance reaches me.

Plain meaningQuiet beauty reveals itself even in winter.

Lotus leaves reach the sky in endless green; beneath the sun, lotus flowers glow with an unmatched red.

Plain meaningSummer opens into boundless green and radiant color.

Clouds would borrow her robes and flowers her face; spring wind brushes the railing, and the dew glows richly.

Plain meaningHer beauty calls to mind clouds, blossoms, spring wind, and luminous dew.

In a lone boat, an old man in a straw cape fishes alone in the snowy river cold.

Plain meaningOne person remains steady in a vast and empty winter world.

I stop the carriage because I love the evening maple woods; frost-red leaves are brighter than flowers of the second month.

Plain meaningAutumn can be as vivid and beautiful as spring.

In the north there is a beautiful woman, peerless and standing alone.

Plain meaningShe is strikingly beautiful and entirely her own.