Xu Zaisi styled Deke, Xu was born in Jiaxing (belonging to today's Zhejiang). As he likes eating sugar, he chose "Tianzhai" (Study of Sweetness) as his literary name. Xu was paralleled with Guan Yunshi for the polish of his Sanqu poetry, with 103 short lyrics attributed to him, most of which depict natural beauty and the life of women. Employing skillfully the techniques similar to line-drawing in Chinese painting and ingenious parallel couplets, Xu achieves an effect of concision. He also makes good use of colloquialisms and folk songs. His style is either minute and deep, lyrical and elegant, or deep and heroic when speculations on history are concerned.
徐再思 字德可，嘉兴（今属浙江）人。好吃甘怡，因自号甜斋。工散曲，与贯云石（号酸斋）齐名。现存小令一百零三首，多描写自然风光和闺阁之情，擅用白描手法，字句凝练，对仗工巧，善用俗谣俚曲，曲辞清丽，抒情细腻深切，风格秀雅。一些怀古之作，寓意深远，格调悲壮。
Night Rain to the tune of Narcissus
水仙子·夜雨
The sound from parasol leaves is the autumn sound,
一声梧叶一声秋，
Drops of rain on bananas are drops of grief profound,
一点芭蕉一点愁，
The dream of return comes after three watches of the night resound.
三更归梦三更后。
The snuff of the candle wick falls in a mess, while unfinished is the game of playing chess,
落灯花棋未收，
At this hotel east of the capital how lonely I feel,
叹新丰孤馆人留，
The matter talked over on pillow ten years ago as woe and weal,
枕上十年事，
And in the south, worries from my parents so kind,
江南二老忧，
All suddenly come to mind.
都到心头。