Matchmaker Oracle · Lot 41

Source: Attributed to Su Shi, "Flower Shadows"

What it means

Thoughts of someone, like flower shadows, return each time they fade.

Flower shadows pile on the jade terrace; swept again and again, they won't go; the sun takes them away and the moon brings them back. Thoughts of someone follow you like a shadow. Ask whether this is an unfinished bond or something you can't let go; if the former, find the courage to speak.

Guidance in love

Line by line

1. 重重疊疊上瑤臺
   Flower shadows pile layer on layer on the jade terrace
2. 幾度呼童掃不開
   several times the boy is told to sweep, yet they won't go
3. 剛被太陽收拾去
   just cleared away by the setting sun
4. 卻教明月送將來
   they are brought back by the bright moon.

Original context

Attributed to Su Shi, "Flower Shadows": layers of flower shadow on the terrace cannot be swept away by the servant boy; the setting sun removes them, the rising moon brings them back. On the surface a scene; some read it as petty men who won't leave, others as thoughts that won't go.

Text: the 100-lot Matchmaker (Yue Lao) oracle used in Taiwan. Most lots quote classical texts; sources were checked against the originals, obvious copying errors corrected, and uncertain sources marked as such.