Under blue mountains we wound our way,
My boat and 1, along green water;
Until the banks at low tide widened,
With no wind stirring my lone sail.
...Night now yields to a sea of sun,
And the old year melts in freshets.
At last I can send my messengers --
Wildgeese, homing to Loyang.
Original Poem:
「次北固山下」
王湾
客路青山外， 行舟绿水前。
潮平两岸阔， 风正一帆悬。
海日生残夜， 江春入旧年。
乡书何处达？ 归雁洛阳边。
Interpretation:
Beigu Mountain is north of Zhenjiang in present-day Jiangsu Province. This poem was written when the author was traveling in Wuzhong and anchored under Beigu Mountain. The poet expresses his homesickness by describing the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan and his own situation.
The first two lines stick to the title, writing out his feelings of detention. The tide rises almost leveled with the two sides, the poet to the two sides of the river to look at the river feel especially wide. The boat traveling in the river, the river wind blowing slowly, the boat traveling smoothly and quickly. The poet writes about the gentle wind and the smoothness of the boat.
When the sky is about to brighten, a red sun rises on the wide river in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River; when the old year is about to end, the physical climate in Jiangnan has already brought the breath of spring. In the new year is about to come, but the poet is still adrift in a lonely boat, how can not produce thoughts of travel? Thus, when the author saw the geese returning to the north in spring, he remembered the story of the geese passing on letters. His hometown is Luoyang in the north, and the geese probably pass through his hometown when they return north!
The whole poem is open and beautiful, with neat counterpoints, and the refining of words is quite skillful, and the fifth and sixth lines are especially good and beautiful.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Wang Wan, whose date of birth and death is unknown, was a native of Luoyang. He was admitted as a jinshi in 712 AD. His poems were very famous at that time. He traveled between Wu and Chu, and had a deep friendship with Qi Buqian. Later, he ended up as a lieutenant of Luoyang.
