With twilight shadows in my heart
I have driven up among the Lo-yu Tombs
To see the sun, for all his glory,
Buried by the coming night.
Original Poem:
「乐游原」
李商隐
向晚意不适，驱车登古原。
夕阳无限好，只是近黄昏。
Interpretation:
This poem reflects the author’s sadness. When the poet climbed up to Leyouyuan in order to dispel his mood, he saw a brilliant dusk and slanting sun, and then he sent out his feelings.
The first two lines: I was not in a good mood in the evening and drove up to Leyouyuan alone.
The poet was in a melancholy mood, so in order to relieve his boredom, he drove his car out to look at the scenery, and then climbed onto Leyouyuan. Since ancient times, poets and wordsmiths are good at feeling and thinking, and whenever they climb up to see the distance and send their eyes to the wind, they are more likely to induce endless thoughts.
The last two sentences: this sunset evening scene is indeed very beautiful, but it is already dusk.
Sunset is a natural unusual scene, the poet keenly captured the feelings of that moment, and skillfully expressed, there is the love of nature, there is the infinite attachment to life, there is the twilight of life on the passing of the years of the inexorable. The short lines of the poem condense the heavy vicissitudes of life, and shine with rich connotation of life and language tension.
This poem was probably written in his later years, the words are easy to understand, but the simple phrases can induce people’s rich imagination: standing on the high Leyouyuan, looking into the distance, the setting sun, the evening sunlight is like a brocade, the gorgeous sunset quietly dyed the sky and the earth, all things are covered in the light rose color, the cloud vaporization and azure. This moment is so brilliant, so magnificent, so brilliant, but also so short-lived, dusk has quietly approaching, all the luster will return to the dim.
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”.
