— Lu Guimeng
White lotus blooms are often outweighed by red flowers;
They’d rather be transplanted before lunar bowers.
Heartless they seem, but they have deep grief no one knows.
See them fall in moonlight when the morning wind blows.
Note
Lu Guimeng (c. 830–881) was a late Tang Dynasty poet, scholar, and recluse known for his refined aesthetic sensibility, love of nature, and subtle philosophical reflections. Often associated with the “recluse-poet” tradition, he valued quiet integrity over fame and frequently used flowers and natural scenes to express ideals of purity, solitude, and unacknowledged virtue.
His poem “White Lotus” (Bai Lian) is a delicate yet poignant meditation on overlooked beauty and inner dignity. The white lotus, though pure and noble, is “often scorned by gaudier blooms” – a metaphor for how true virtue is ignored in a world that favors showy appearances. Lu insists this flower truly belongs not in an ordinary pond but in the celestial Jade Pool (Yaochi), home of the Queen Mother of Heaven, where its sanctity would be honored.
In the final couplet, he captures the lotus at dawn – bathed in cool moonlight and clear breeze – as it trembles on the verge of falling. Though seemingly “without feeling,” it carries a silent sorrow: “Who will notice its hidden grief?” This moment of quiet vulnerability elevates the white lotus into a symbol of the solitary sage: graceful, principled, and tragically unseen.
白莲
— 陆龟蒙
素蘤多蒙别艳欺，
此花端合在瑶池。
无情有恨何人觉，
月晓风清欲堕时。
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