Wong Tai Sin lot 18 of 100
The cuckoo's cry moves the traveller
Lowest (下下). Grade as given on the named web transcriptions. We have not seen it on a temple printing, and we do not know that the temple prints one.
杜鵑啼血淚悲聲
聲怨霜寒夢乍驚
驚動異鄉為異客
客心更觸故園情
The cuckoo cries blood and tears in a sad voice.
The voice complains of frost and cold, and a dream is startled awake.
It startles a traveller far from home.
The traveller's heart is touched even more for the old garden at home.
What this lot says
Longing for home, sharpened by a sad bird call at night. Each line passes its last word to the next, which makes the sorrow feel like it keeps going.
This lot is graded lowest. Read it as a verse about loneliness and homesickness, and as a nudge to reach out to the people you miss.
A lot is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
The story behind it
The cuckoo's cry moves the traveller (杜鵑泣血動客心)
A traditional allusion named with this lot. We have not traced the story to a source we could read, so we do not retell it here.
Where this text comes from
This verse is a traditional temple text with no known author, here read from named web transcriptions. We compared the sites character by character and show every difference. We could not establish whether the sites are independent of one another, and we have not read a temple printing.
Fortune Sticks (fortunesticks.org) (the text shown above)
杜鵑啼血淚悲聲 / 聲怨霜寒夢乍驚 / 驚動異鄉為異客 / 客心更觸故園情
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Luckeyes (算命眼, luckeyes.com)
杜鵑啼血淚悲聲 / 聲怨霜寒夢乍驚 / 驚動異鄉為異客 / 客心更觸故園情
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Andy.hk (加賀風水)
杜鵑啼血淚悲聲 / 聲怨霜寒夢乍驚 / 驚動異鄉為異客 / 客心更觸故園情
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Where the sources differ
- The allusion in the lot title: fortunesticks.org and luckeyes.com name it 杜鵑泣血動客心; andy.hk names it 包公訪李后.
English translation and commentary are by Cast & Chart.