Feng Yan's poem follows a father from his daughter's birth to her wedding, using the making of rice wine as a way to show his love. When she is born, he soaks and rubs the glutinous rice, then buries the jar beneath an osmanthus tree. The poem suggests the wine will wait there for years, much as his feelings quietly deepen while she grows. The line about measuring her height and the beat of his heart shows how closely he watches her childhood.
The mood is tender and patient, and it turns bittersweet at the end. At the wedding, the daughter is dressed in red, and the wine, now ripened, is shared as a toast. The father is tearful and grey-headed, glad for her happiness but also aware of letting her go. The speaker seems to look on with warm admiration, treating the father's love as something slow, hidden, and sweet, like the wine itself.