At Nan-king Ferry

This one-story inn at Nan-king ferry
Is a miserabk lodging-place for the night -
But across the dead moon's ebbing tide,
Lights from Kua-chou beckon on the river.

Original Poem:

「题金陵渡」
金陵津渡小山楼，一宿行人自可愁。
潮落夜江斜月里，两三星火是瓜洲。

Interpretation:

The night river at low tide is dipped in the light of the slanting moon, and on the background of the cold water covered with smoke, a few stars are suddenly seen twinkling in the distance, which is a small poem written by the poet when he was roaming in Jiangnan. When Zhang Hu was staying at the crossing of Zhenjiang River at night, he wrote this poem to express his sorrowful thoughts during the journey and his loneliness and desolation in the face of the night scene of the Yangtze River. The language of the poem is simple and natural, depicting the wonderful picturesque night scene on the river in a quiet and miserable way, elegant and fresh.

The first two lines of the poem explain the place where the poet stayed at night and point out the poet’s mood; the second two lines actually describe the beautiful night scene at the Jinling Ferry on the Yangtze River, thus setting off the poet’s lonely and desolate feelings of detention. The whole poem is based on the scenes of the river, the moon and the lights, and the word “sorrow” is used throughout the whole poem, which makes the poem’s purpose clear and its rhythm far-reaching.

The poet stood on the hill tower and looked at the river at night, only to see that the moon was already slanting in the west and the cold tide was setting on the river. There was nothing to see on the dark night river, but the poet could see the tide falling in the hazy moonlight of the western slope.

About Author:

Zhang Hu (张祜, 785-849 A.D.) was a poet from Qinghe in the Tang Dynasty, he wrote more than a thousand poems in total. In his early years, he lived in Gusu, but in the middle of Changqing, he was not recommended by Linghu Chu. He was rejected by Yuan Zhen, so he went to Huainan and lived in seclusion in Danyang Qu’a. During his life, Zhang Hu made remarkable achievements in poetry. Zhang Hu was named after his poem “Three thousand miles from his homeland, twenty years in the deep palace”, and his 349 poems are included in The Complete Tang Poems.

Poem translator:

Kiang Kanghu