From office confinement all year long,
I have come out of town to be free this morning
Where willows harmonize the wind
And green hills lighten the cares of the world.
I lean by a tree and rest myself
Or wander up and down a stream.
…Mists have wet the fragrant meadows;
A spring dove calls from some hidden place.
…With quiet surroundings, the mind is at peace,
But beset with affairs, it grows restless again…
Here I shall finally build me a cabin,
As Tao Qian built one long ago.
Original Poem:
「东郊」
韦应物
吏舍跼终年， 出郊旷清曙。
杨柳散和风， 青山澹吾虑。
依丛适自憩， 缘涧还复去。
微雨霭芳原， 春鸠鸣何处。
乐幽心屡止， 遵事迹犹遽。
终罢斯结庐， 慕陶真可庶。
Interpretation:
This poem expresses the poet’s love for nature and admiration for Tao Yuanming’s feelings of returning to the mountains and forests through the description of the beautiful scenery in the countryside in spring.
The first four lines explain the beauty of coming to the countryside and express the poet’s yearning for freedom. After a whole year of confinement in the government office, I came to the countryside, and the beautiful scenery soothed my depressed mood. The willow is blown away by the spring wind, and the green hills make the poet’s sadness shallow.
The next four lines are about traveling. Along the bushes, streams or line or stop, wandering among them, because in the government, had to leave the ideal environment of the heart. The rain is drizzling like silk, the countryside is misty; I can only hear the song of the spring dove, but I can’t see where it is, as if I have entered the fairyland. This is exactly the realm away from the world that the poet hopes for.
The last four lines of the conclusion of the scene, written out of the heart of the unhappy, to admire Tao Yuanming Ò knot, according to the previous text. Love quiet wish repeatedly failed to realize, due to the official business, now still in a hurry, can not be as desired. In the end, the only way to build a house here and get close to nature like Tao Yuanming was to resign from his official position.
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.
