Out of the east you visit me,
With the rain of Baling still on your clothes,
I ask you what you have come here for;
You say: "To buy an ax for cutting wood in the mountains"
…Hidden deep in a haze of blossom,
Swallow fledglings chirp at ease
As they did when we parted, a year ago…
How grey our temples have grown since them!
Original Poem:
「长安遇冯著」
韦应物
客从东方来， 衣上灞陵雨。
问客何为来， 采山因买斧。
冥冥花正开， 扬扬燕新乳。
昨别今已春， 鬓丝生几缕。
Interpretation:
This poem was written when the poet met his friend Feng Zhi in Chang’an. The poem is written in a kind and funny tone, which not only expresses deep understanding, sympathy, consideration and exhortation to the disillusioned friend Feng Zhi, but also gives birth to the sigh that the time of meeting this year will pass away easily and life will grow old easily.
In the first line, Feng Zhi comes from a place east of Chang’an. During the Han Dynasty, Ba Mountain was a famous hermitage near Chang’an, where many celebrities lived in seclusion. If Feng Zhi came from a famous place of seclusion, he must have been unhappy and must have the manners of a famous hermit.
In the third line, the reason why Feng Zhi came to Chang’an is expected. Why did Feng Zhi come to Chang’an? Probably want to come to Chang’an to seek wealth and copper casting money, I did not expect to end up only a piece of thorns, but also have to buy an axe to remove.
Neck line, think back to last year in the spring of the flowers and swallows milk when we parted, Feng Zhi lived in the spring mountains of silence. Hundreds of flowers bloom quietly, the swallow has just nursed the swallow chick and fly happily. The poet chooses to depict the typical image of spring to exhort Feng Zhi to firmly believe in the justice of heaven and earth, and to have confidence in his future when he is in seclusion.
In the end, he sighs. Last year we said goodbye in spring, and now we meet again in spring, a whole year has passed, the scenery is still the same, but your sideburns have grown a few more strands than last year. Thus, it expresses the full understanding and sincere sympathy for Feng Zhi, and also shows that the poet’s own inner world is very uneasy in the idle life.
In this poem, the poet expresses his feelings and writes about the scenery in the narrative, uses the scenery to symbolize his meaning, and uses the way of self-questioning to set the atmosphere, with sincere feelings and lively, subtle and interesting language.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Wei Yingwu (韦应物), circa 737 – 786, was a native of Chang’an, Beijing. His poems were collected in the Wei Suzhou Collection, which included poems concerned with the plight of the people, expressions of disobedience to the times and indignation against the world, and descriptions of idyllic landscapes, etc., of which the ones describing idyllic landscapes are the most famous, and have been sung by posterity in particular.
