I left home young. I return old,
Speaking as then, but with hair grown thin;
And my children, meeting me, do not know me.
They smile and say: " Stranger, where do you come from?"
Original Poem:
「回乡偶书」
贺知章
少小离家老大回，乡音无改鬓毛衰。
儿童相见不相识，笑问客从何处来。
Interpretation:
A traveler who has been living in other countries for many years has returned to his hometown, and when he left home, he was young and in full bloom, but he has become an old man with thinning hair. Long time ago, my hometown or my memory of the mold? My hometown still remember me? We seem to see an old man whose face is full of vicissitudes of life walking on the road home with a lot of emotions.
The poet does not write about the specific content of the emotion, but opens his pen and picks up a very common slice of life – a child sees an unfamiliar face and asks curiously, “Guest, where do you come from?” Children’s questions out of nature, reasonable, but the poet was quite surprised to hear, this is my hometown! How did I become a guest in my hometown? There is a deep sense of helplessness about the passage of time. The poem ends abruptly here.
Here, we see the honest childishness, but also feel the waves of the poet’s heart! How many ups and downs in his life, how many vicissitudes of the world, are all put into the child’s innocent question, which has a deep and long meaning.
About the poet:
He Zhizhang (贺知章) was a native of Xiaoshan, Zhejiang Province, circa 659-746 AD. He was admitted as a scholar in 695 AD. He returned to his hometown in 744 AD. He Zhizhang was open-minded, fond of talking and drinking.
