The title of the work comes from a Song-Dynasty poem by Huang Tingjian (1045–1105), on whose poetic imagery the work is based. The composer attempted to use music to express his feelings triggered by the poem. The English translation of the poem is as follows:

Where is spring gone?
It left me so forlorn
Should anyone know the way it’s gone Its return I’d implore
Who might’ve known spring’s traces But for the oriole
With chirps cryptic to man
It rode winds past the rose