The poem
Song of the Traveller (游子吟, Yóu Zǐ Yín) by Meng Jiao (孟郊).
慈母手中线cí mǔ shǒu zhōng xiànThe thread in a loving mother’s hands
游子身上衣yóu zǐ shēn shàng yīBecomes the coat on her travelling son.
临行密密缝lín xíng mì mì féngBefore he leaves, she sews each stitch tight,
意恐迟迟归yì kǒng chí chí guīAfraid he will be slow to come home.
谁言寸草心shuí yán cùn cǎo xīnWho says a little blade of grass
报得三春晖bào dé sān chūn huīCan ever repay the warm spring sun?
What it means
The classic poem about a mother’s love. The child is the small blade of grass and the mother is the spring sunshine it can never pay back. A lovely one to learn for Mother’s Day.
Characters to know
- 母 mǔ: mother
- 手 shǒu: hand
- 衣 yī: clothes
- 心 xīn: heart
How to practise it
Read the poem aloud together first, then write one line a day using the line buttons above the worksheet. By the end of the week your child can write the whole poem and knows what each line means. When it feels easy, set tracing to 0 and write it from memory.
More poems to print
- 静夜思 Quiet Night Thoughts
- 春晓 Spring Dawn
- 咏鹅 Ode to the Goose
- 登鹳雀楼 On the Stork Tower
- 悯农 Pity the Farmers
- 江雪 River Snow
- 咏柳 Ode to the Willow
- 画 A Painting
- 草 Grass
- 鹿柴 Deer Park
- 寻隐者不遇 Looking for the Hermit
- 相思 Thinking of You
More worksheets
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