South go the wildgesse, for leaves are now falling,
And the water is cold with a wind from the north.
I remember my home; but the Xiang River's curves
Are walled by the clouds of this southern country.
I go forward. I weep till my tears are spent.
I see a sail in the far sky.
Where is the ferry? Will somebody tell me?
It's growing rough. It's growing dark.
Original Poem:
「早寒江上有怀」
孟浩然
木落雁南渡， 北风江上寒。
我家襄水曲， 遥隔楚云端。
乡泪客中尽， 孤帆天际看。
迷津欲有问， 平海夕漫漫。
Interpretation:
This poem was written by Meng Haoran on his way to roam the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and it is a poem of longing for home.
The poet captures the typical things at that time and points out the season. The leaves of the trees are shedding and the geese are flying south, which is the most representative scene of autumn.
Next, it reveals the feelings of homesickness, with implicit meaning, which not only points out the homesickness, but also lets out such feelings, writing all the feelings common to all travelers in the world. The poet looks at his hometown from afar in a foreign land, and deeply misses Xiangyang and Xiangshui, but his hometown is unattainable, so he can only shed tears of homesickness and look at the lonely sails in the sky from afar. Only a traveler can deeply realize this feeling of drifting away. The poet is in a foreign land, lost in the jinliang, no way to find the way, only see the evening wide flat as the sea river, boundless waves. The last two lines of the poem are not only a realistic description of the situation, but also a metaphor for the poet’s own feelings of grief and indignation at the loss of his career.
The poem is a natural expression of the author’s feelings. At last, the poem ends with a scene, which symbolizes the sadness of returning home and the uncertainty of the road ahead in the confused dusk of the river.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Meng Haoran (孟浩然), 689-740 AD, a native of Xiangyang, Hubei, was a famous poet of the Sheng Tang Dynasty. With the exception of one trip to the north when he was in his forties, when he was seeking fame in Chang’an and Luoyang, he spent most of his life in seclusion in his hometown of Lumenshan or roaming around.
