Stone-Fish Lake is like Lake Dongting --
When the top of Zun is green and the summer tide is rising.
...With the mountain for a table, and the lake a fount of wine,
The tipplers all are settled along the sandy shore.
Though a stiff wind for days has roughened the water,
Wine-boats constantly arrive...
I have a long-necked gourd and, happy on Ba Island,
I am pouring a drink in every direction doing away with care.
Original Poem:
「石鱼湖上醉歌」
元结
石鱼湖， 似洞庭，夏水欲满君山青。
山为樽， 水为沼，酒徒历历坐洲鸟。
长风连日作大浪， 不能废人运酒舫。
我持长瓢坐巴丘， 酌饮四座以散愁。
Interpretation:
This poem expresses the author's love for Stonefish Lake.
The first three lines: Stonefish Lake in Daozhou, Hunan Province, is really like Dongting; the water is full in summer, and Junshan is green and pale.
Comparing the stonefish lake with Dongting Lake, the atmosphere is very big. In fact, the stonefish lake is big in the poet's heart, not its appearance, is because the poet so love the stonefish lake, so the stonefish lake in the poet's heart and the dongting lake as boundless.
Four to eight lines: And the valley as a wine cup, the lake as a wine pool, drinkers, sitting around the center of the island. No matter what the winds and waves are doing, they can't stop our boat from carrying wine.
Although there is no shocking words, but also reflects Yuan Jie's easy to narrate the characteristics of the poem.
The last two lines: I hold a wine gourd dipper, sitting steadily on Bachu Mountain, pouring wine for the four seats, to dissipate the sorrow.
The poet is dissatisfied with the present and helpless, however, drinking wine to dissipate the sorrow can only temporarily paralyze himself. The poet's bitterness mainly comes from his compassionate civilian thoughts, and at that time, it was almost impossible for the ruler to care about the people, so he could only fantasize about going back to the mountains and rivers and seeking to get drunk to relieve his sorrows.
The poem's freshness of tone, simplicity of style, ease and naturalness, and lack of formality fully demonstrate his own unique style of poetic creation.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Yuan Jie (元结), 719 - 772 A.D., was a native of Lushan, Henan Province, and was admitted as a jinshi (进士) in 753 A.D. In his poetic creation, he strongly opposed the formalist poetic style, and his ancient poems are plain and simple, simple and natural, and self-contained. The contents of his poems were mostly satirical of current politics and reflecting people's hardships.
