High beyond the thick wall a tower shines with sunset
Where peach and plum are blooming and the willowcotton flies.
You have heard in your office the court-bell of twilight;
Birds find perches, officials head for home.
Your morning-jade will tinkle as you thread the golden palace;
You will bring the word of Heaven from the closing gates at night.
And I should serve there with you; but being full of years,
I have taken off official robes and am resting from my troubles.
Original Poem:
「赠郭给事」
王维
洞门高阁霭余辉， 桃李阴阴柳絮飞。
禁里疏钟官舍晚， 省中啼鸟吏人稀。
晨摇玉佩趋金殿， 夕奉天书拜琐闱。
强欲从君无那老， 将因卧病解朝衣。
Interpretation:
This is a poem given to Guo by Wang Wei. In Wang Wei’s later years, when he was a half-government official and half-retiree, there were many poems of this kind of honorarium.
The first two lines of the poem seem to be about the scenery, but in fact they are symbolic images of Guo being honored by the emperor and adored by his disciples, highlighting the eminence of his position.
The jaw line is written to Guo Zuishi to serve the virtuous labor, living in the official clean and quiet. The province should be busy, people come and go, but now is actually leisure and quiet to hear the birds. This is a kind of side depiction, because there are not many lawsuits, the times are calm, so the officials are few, the province is idle. This sentence is explicitly describing the environment of Guo’s officialdom, writing that he is living in leisure, in fact, it is secretly writing that he has excellent political achievements, the world is peaceful, and even the government office is in leisure. Reward and works are often inevitable words of praise and flattery, but Wang Wei wrote this way, but there are euphemistic twists and turns do not fall into the cliché of the wonderful.
Neck line this is directly write Guo Zuimin himself, morning dressed to worship, evening holding the edict down, tireless.
In the end, the poet lamented his old age and illness, unable to follow, indirectly expressing the poet’s thought of the world. In many poems of the Tang Dynasty, after stating their admiration for each other, the poet often expressed his hope for introduction and promotion.
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.
