As the years go by, give me but peace,
Freedom from ten thousand matters.
I ask myself and always answer:
What can be better than coming home?
A wind from the pine-trees blows my sash,
And my lute is bright with the mountain moon.
You ask me about good and evil fortune?....
Hark, on the lake there's a fisherman singing!
Original Poem:
「汉江临眺」
王维
楚塞三湘接， 荆门九派通。
江流天地外， 山色有无中。
郡邑浮前浦， 波澜动远空。
襄阳好风日， 留醉与山翁。
Interpretation:
This poem was written by Wang Wei when he was passing through Xiangyang in 740 A.D. It is about the magnificent scenery he saw when he climbed to a high altitude and looked into the distance in Xiangyang.
In the first two lines, the Han River flows through the Chuset, and the gushing waters of Sanxiang connect the strongholds of Jing and Chu, and join the nine tributaries of the Yangtze River in the area of Jingmen.
Although there is not a single word about Han water in this line, it has given a person an overall impression of the majestic and magnificent Han water, rendering an atmosphere for the whole poem. The Han River is connected to the nine tributaries of the Yangtze River, which is not a scene that can be seen from a distance, but rather as if it is seen from an airplane overlooking. Through imagination, the poet shows such a big picture in only two lines.
The third and fourth lines: the Han water is vast, as if flowing beyond heaven and earth; the mountain color is hazy, far away in nothingness.
Combined with their own impressions and feelings to write the distant scene seen in front of them. With the use of hyperbole to write the Han River is extremely vast and empty, looks as if all flow to the world outside. Then write in the river looking at the distant mountains, mountain color pale to the extreme, if there is no, seemingly hidden. Because of the distance and the misty, changing color of the mountains is written out realistically and evocatively.
The fifth and sixth lines: the counties along the river seem to float above the water; the edge where the water and the sky meet, the waves are stirring and rolling.
It is written that the river is so vast that Xiangyang seems to be floating on the water; the waves are turbulent and rolling, and the distant sky seems to have been shaken. The poet’s writing style here is extremely dynamic, making the scene under the poet’s pen seem to move.
The last two lines: The scenery of Xiangyang is indeed intoxicating; I would like to stay here and accompany the drunken mountain man.
Citing the story of Shan Jian, a Jin man who used to guard Xiangyang, the poet says that he wants to get drunk with Shan Weng, showing his love for the scenery of Xiangyang.
The whole poem has a beautiful mood and a fresh tone, and is full of optimism in depicting the scenery, giving people the enjoyment of beauty.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Wang Wei (王维), 701-761 A.D., was a native of Yuncheng, Shanxi Province. Wang Wei was a poet of landscape and idylls. His poems of landscape and idylls, with far-reaching images and mysterious meanings, were widely loved by readers in later generations, but Wang Wei never really became a man of landscape and idylls.
