I am far from the clouds of Sung Mountain, a long way from trees in Ch'in;
And I send to you a message carried by two carp:
- Absent this autumn from the Prince's garden,
There's a poet at Mao-ling sick in the rain.
Original Poem:
「寄令狐郎中」
李商隐
嵩云秦树久离居，双鲤迢迢一纸书。
休问梁园旧宾客，茂陵秋雨病相如。
Interpretation:
In the autumn of 845 A.D., the poet was living in Luoyang because of his mother’s funeral, and after receiving a letter from his old friend, Linghu Zhu, he returned this poem, which expresses his feelings of remembrance of his former friend and lamentation of his despondent life. Linghu Chuan is the son of Linghu Chu, when the poet was appreciated by Linghu Chu, and Linghu Chuan’s relationship was also very good, Kai Cheng two years into the bachelor’s degree and also thanks to the help of Linghu Rope, and then because the poet married the daughter of Wang Maoyuan of the Li Party, the two people have been estranged.
The whole poem is meaningful in its simplicity, and contains true feelings in its loss. The last two lines of the poem share an allusion to the past relationship with a friend, today’s sadness and loneliness, and the thousands of thoughts after receiving a letter from an old friend, which can be said to be apt and ingenious.
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”.
