I had so long been troubled by official hat and robe
That I am glad to be an exile here in this wild southland.
I am a neighbour now of planters and reapers.
I am a guest of the mountains and woods.
I plough in the morning, turning dewy grasses,
And at evening tie my fisher-boat, breaking the quiet stream.
Back and forth I go, scarcely meeting anyone,
And sing a long poem and gaze at the blue sky.
Original Poem:
「溪居」
柳宗元
久为簪组累，幸此南夷谪。
闲依农圃邻，偶似山林客。
晓耕翻露草，夜榜响溪石。
来往不逢人，长歌楚天碧。
Interpretation:
In 810 A.D., after the author was deported to Yongzhou, he found that Ranxi, which was once inhabited by the Ran family, had a beautiful scenery, and moved there because he loved its beauty, and renamed it Yugxi. This poem was written after he moved to Yu Xi, so it is called “Residence at the Stream”.
The poet is fortunate to have been relegated to live in this leisurely place, where he is alone, unrestrained, and enjoys a rare life of free singing. The poem is divided into three layers. The first two lines of the first layer, write the reason to come to Yugong Yixi: long for the official detained, fortunate to be relegated to the southern minority areas, can be exempted from a lot of trouble. It is unfortunate to be relegated, but the author says it is “fortunate”, which is the opposite of what he said, and the resentment is deep.
In the middle, he writes about his life in Yugong Yixi: when he is idle, he is a neighbor to the farmland and vegetable garden, and occasionally he looks like a hermit in the mountains and forests. Early in the morning, step on the dew to plow the land and weeding; during the day, sometimes swinging up the boat to go swimming, until dark to return, the boat touched the reef to make a thumping sound. This is what an idle life, how open-minded emotion, seems to have nothing to worry about the misfortune, in fact, this is the refrain of grief and indignation! The author is not resting in hiding and idleness, he wants to reform the bad government for the official, not to enjoy the glory and wealth. Therefore, in the “leisure according to”, “occasional like”, “dawn plowing”, “night list” behind, a kind of far away from relatives and friends, the ambition can not be realized. Ambitions can not be realized, the feeling of necessity, natural outflow.
Finally write the poet’s lament. In this helpless situation, the author had to look up to the Chu sky alone, long song gallop, used to dispatch the grief and anger!
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Liu Zongyuan (柳宗元), 773-819 A.D., a native of Yongji, Shanxi, was a progressive thinker, brilliant writer, and revolutionary statesman of the Tang Dynasty. Nineteen years before he was born, the An Shi Rebellion broke out, which dramatically changed the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline. The subsequent failure of the Yongzhen Reform was a historical tragedy that cut short Liu Zongyuan’s political future, but made him one of the leading thinkers and literary figures of the Tang Dynasty.
