"I am endlessly yearning
To be in Ch'ang-an.
...Insects hum of autumn by the gold brim of the well;
A thin frost glistens like little mi rrors on my cold mat;
The high lantern flickers; and deeper grows my longing.
I lift the shade and, with many a sigh, gaze upon the moon,
Single as a flower, centred from the clouds.
Above, I see the blueness and deepness of sky.
Below, I see the greenness and the restlessness of water
Heaven is high, earth wide; bitter between them flies my sorrow.
Can I dream through the gateway, over the mountain?
Endless longing
Breaks my heart."
Original Poem:
「长相思 · 其一」
李白
长相思，在长安。
络纬秋啼金井阑，微霜凄凄簟色寒。
孤灯不明思欲绝，卷帷望月空长叹。
美人如花隔云端！
上有青冥之长天，下有渌水之波澜。
天长路远魂飞苦，梦魂不到关山难。
长相思，摧心肝！
Interpretation:
This poem is written by Li Bai after he left Chang’an, and it is about a man’s longing for a woman.
The first half of the poem is: I miss day and night, the person I miss is in Chang’an. In the fall night, the weaver cries at the well rail, and the bamboo mat is soaked with frost and cold. At night, I think of her, my soul wants to break, the lonely lamp accompanies me in the dark; I roll up the curtains and look at the bright moon, but I sigh in vain to the moon alone. The beauty is as beautiful as a flower, as if separated by clouds!
The poet expresses his feelings through the description of autumn insects, autumn frost, lonely lamp and other scenes. Missing beauty far away in Chang’an city, autumn weaver in the golden well appendage next to the chirping, the first frost, thin frost bleak sent bursts of cold, bamboo mat also showed a chill. The lonely light is dim, and the bone-deep longing makes one want to break one’s soul, but the flower-like beauty seems to be separated in the clouds!
The second half of the paragraph: Above there is the long sky, a vast expanse, below there is clear water rolling up ten thousand waves. How hard it is to travel day and night, and how hard it is to fly over the mountains in your dreams. I miss you day and night, and my love for you breaks my heart.
On top of the boundless blue sky, under the clear green water ripples. The sky is long and far away, the mountains are blocked, the dream soul to see each other is also difficult, can only roll up the curtains and look up at the moon empty since the long sigh! In ancient times, “beauty” was often used as a metaphor for the ideal to be pursued. The specific location of Chang’an also suggests “beauty”, which is a political allegory, indicating that the purpose of this poem is to express the poet’s depressed mood of pursuing political ideals but failing to do so.
The whole poem is designed to render the atmosphere by portraying the scene, and its description of male and female lovesickness profoundly expresses the pain of lovesickness of the departed, and also implicitly implies the bitterness of the poet’s pursuit of political ideals which cannot be realized.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Li Bai (李白), 701 ~ 762 A.D., whose ancestral home was in Gansu, was preceded by Li Guang, a general of the Han Dynasty. Tang poetry is one of the brightest constellations in the history of Chinese literature, and one of the brightest stars is Li Bai.
