I have sailed the River of Yellow Flowers,
Borne by the channel of a green stream,
Rounding ten thousand turns through the mountains
On a journey of less than thirty miles….
Rapids hum over heaped rocks;
But where light grows dim in the thick pines,
The surface of an inlet sways with nut-horns
And weeds are lush along the banks.
…Down in my heart I have always been as pure
As this limpid water is….
Oh, to remain on a broad flat rock
And to cast a fishing-line forever!
Original Poem:
「青溪」
王维
言入黄花川， 每逐青溪水。
随山将万转， 趣途无百里。
声喧乱石中， 色静深松里。
漾漾泛菱荇， 澄澄映葭苇。
我心素已闲， 清川澹如此。
请留盘石上， 垂钓将已矣。
Interpretation:
This poem was written around the time when Wang Wei was living in Nanshan, Lantian.
In the first two lines, the poet gives an explanation of the subject of this landscape poem in a very concise manner, explaining that the author often traveled along the green stream into the Huanghuachuan River. In the third and fourth lines, the poet writes that the journey is less than a hundred miles, but the stream meanders along the mountains and makes a thousand turns. This is to outline Qingxi.
The middle four lines turn to a detailed description of the posture of Qingxi. The stream rushes into a rocky beach and makes a racket, but when it flows into a deep pine forest, it is quiet. The green water lily leaves and yellow floating pelt are rippling with the waves, and the clear light of the waves is reflected in the reeds swaying in the wind, which is a tranquil and quiet scene.
In this fresh and indifferent mood, the author naturally associated with himself. The poet confirms his own long-cherished wish in the calmness and ease of Qingxi, and also hints at the reason why the author loves Qingxi. At this point, the heart and the realm merge, and the feelings and the scenery become one. The last two lines borrow the allusion to Yan Ziling’s fishing in the Fuchun River in the Eastern Han Dynasty to show that the poet also wants to live in seclusion in Qingxi as his home. This line is certainly showing the poet’s love for Qingxi, but it also implies the poet’s disillusionment with his career and his desire to return to the mountains and forests.
The poet celebrates the simplicity of Qingxi as a metaphor for his own long-cherished desire for peace and relaxation. Qingxi is not a famous attraction, but in the poet Wang Wei’s writing, it is winding and elegant. The whole poem is naturally light and simple, with seemingly little effort in writing scenes and expressing emotions, yet the flavor is timeless and intriguing.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Wang Wei (王维), 701-761 A.D., was a native of Yuncheng, Shanxi Province. Wang Wei was a poet of landscape and idylls. His poems of landscape and idylls, with far-reaching images and mysterious meanings, were widely loved by readers in later generations, but Wang Wei never really became a man of landscape and idylls.
