The coloration of the trees in the background, where the tone modulates from dark in the foliage to lighter and lighter in the trunks, was achieved with a technique borrowed from Japanese color woodcuts. The art of Japan is also apparent in the monochrome flower pattern above and below the image that imitates the silk scrolls on which paintings are hung. The poem, by Charles Cros, can be translated as: Shivering trees / Starry sky / My well-beloved has gone away / Taking with him my broken heart / Wind, let your plaintive murmurs / And you nightingale let your songs / Tell him that I am dying