A cold light shines on the gathering dew,
As sunset fades beyond the southern mountains;
Trees echo with monkeys on the banks of Lake Dongting,
Where somebody is moving in an orchid-wood boat.
Marsh-lands are swollen wide with the moon,
While torrents are bent to the mountains' will;
And the vanished Queens of the Clouds leave me
Sad with autumn all night long.
Original Poem:
「楚江怀古」
马戴
露气寒光集， 微阳下楚丘。
猿啼洞庭树， 人在木兰舟。
广泽生明月， 苍山夹乱流。
云中君不见， 竟夕自悲秋。
Interpretation:
In the early years of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the poet was relegated to the post of Lieutenant of Longyang (present-day Hanshou of Hunan Province) by the secretary of the Taiyuan Shogunate because of his outspokenness. From the north to the south of the Yangtze River, he wandered along the banks of the Dongting and Xiangjiang Rivers, and was touched by his feelings, admiring his predecessors and saddened by his life, and wrote three poems, the first of which is here.
Autumn winds, twilight, the evening mist on the river, the setting sun in the west of Chu Mountain. The solemn scene of the twilight of the fall, drenched in the poet’s sadness and loneliness.
Then the combination of audio and visual, things and their own blend, motion and static, painted such a picture: but heard the vast Dongting Lake in the withered trees in the apes and monkeys wailing, only to see the river in the Mulan boat drifting.
Night falls, the moon rises in the vastness of the boundless Dongting Lake, the pale green mountains clip with the turbulence of the rushing down, broad and quiet precisely contrasted with his banishment to the southern wilderness of the lonely and desolate, confused and disturbed is deeply reflected in his innermost worries and uncertainty.
The gentleman in the clouds has no reason to see, Qu Zi is far away and hard to find, naturally, more emotions, all-night lamentation.
From this poem can be seen, the style of Qing Wei Euphemism, is determined by the content of the delicate low back, the so-called clear and super and not real, deep and micro and not sloppy, clear and light far from avoiding colorful and thick makeup, implicit and avoid direct exposure.
About the Poet:
Ma Dai(马戴), a native of Jiangsu Province, was admitted to the academy in 844 A.D. When he was serving as a secretary in the Taiyuan Shogunate, he was convicted for his outspokenness and was relegated to the post of Longyang Lieutenant. He was pardoned and returned to the capital, where he became a doctor of the Imperial College. He was a poet friend of Jia Dao and Yao He, and specialized in five rhymes.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
