I am lying in a white-lined coat while the spring approaches,
But am thinking only of the White Gate City where I cannot be.
...There are two red chambers fronting the cold, hidden by the rain,
And a lantern on a pearl screen swaying my lone heart homeward.
...The long road ahead will be full of new hardship,
With, late in the nights, brief intervals of dream.
Oh, to send you this message, this pair of jade earrings! --
I watch a lonely wildgoose in three thousand miles of cloud.
Original Poem:
「春雨」
李商隐
怅卧新春白袷衣， 白门寥落意多违。
红楼隔雨相望冷， 珠箔飘灯独自归。
远路应悲春晼晚， 残宵犹得梦依稀。
玉珰缄札何由达， 万里云罗一雁飞。
Interpretation:
This poem still expresses the feelings of lovesickness in a twisted and cryptic tone. It is entitled “Spring Rain”, but in fact it is an aria of feelings in the spring rain, and its content is close to an untitled poem.
The new spring, the first warm and cold, dashing spring rain covered the earth, desert smoke, wearing a white jacket lying down in despair, often not as good as expected, love for various reasons difficult to see each other, the poet in the new spring of the revival of all things discouraged, depressed and sorrowful.
Since the fate of the stingy, had to come to the good people live in the “Red House”, may be able to get a glimpse of the good people’s silhouette. The poet across the rain curtain, silently watching the residence of the beautiful, but there is a sense of distance. Spring rain is fresh and soft, but the poet felt the cold bone marrow cold, that is the insurmountable gap brought about by the deep helplessness, the pain of lovesickness in the rain has become particularly sharp. It was dark, the poet had to embark on the road home full of disappointment, the beaded curtains in front of the car door, the dim light in the weaving of the rain shook, clattering car alone crushed through the late night silence of the streets and alleys. The red building in the rain, floating night lights, extremely mournful and poignant.
People travelling far away on the way in the spring sunset and dusk, thinking of home, sadness; infatuation, woke up in the middle of the night, dreaming vaguely, the joy of getting together is just a dream, lying alone on an empty couch, feel more miserable. Imagine and dream, are sadness and sadness.
Back to reality, how can I send the letter with the jade earrings? Look at the sky, cloudy, a goose flew by. How to send the love of love, can only rely on the geese to send a letter.
The whole poem is interlaced with close-up and distant scenes, reality and fantasy, with an open realm, a broad brush, and a subtle, delicate and lingering sense of perception. The hazy spring rain, the melancholy heart, the cold rain at night, the vague dream, the distant road, the dusk of spring, the flying geese in the sky …… a multi-sensory, multi-field of vision imagery, brightly coloured, subtle and timeless, with symbolism to visualize the abstract emotion, constructed a sincere and moving, poignant and sentimental realm.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Li Shangyin (李商隐), 813-858 AD, was a great poet of the late Tang Dynasty. His poems were on a par with those of Du Mu, and he was known as “Little Li Du”. Li Shangyin was a native of Qinyang, Jiaozuo City, Henan Province. When he was a teenager, he lost his father at the age of nine, and was called “Zheshui East and West, half a century of wandering”.
