A single carriage goes to the frontier;
An envoy crosses northwest mountains high.
Like tumbleweed I leave the fortress drear;
As wild geese I come under Tartarian sky.
In boundless desert lonely smokes rise straight;
Over endless river the sun sinks round.
I meet a cavalier at the camp gate;
In northern fort the general will be found.
Original Poem:
「使至塞上」
王维
单车欲问边，属国过居延。
征蓬出汉塞，归雁入胡天。
大漠孤烟直，长河落日圆。
萧关逢侯骑，都护在燕然。
Interpretation:
In 737 A.D., Wang Wei was ordered to go to the West River to console the generals, and the poem was made by the poet on his way to the West River, which is an epigram.
The first two lines of the poem are: I will go to the border to console the soldiers, and I will go to Juyan, which is far away from the northwestern border.
I will go to Juyan, which is far away in the northwestern border. It explains the purpose of the trip and the place of arrival, as well as the vastness of the border. The entourage of this trip is small, the ceremonial standard is not high, and the process reveals a slight sense of disappointment.
The third and fourth lines: Like the grass that goes with the wind, I went out to the border, and the geese returning to the north are soaring in the clouds.
The time of this mission to the border is the spring, after the maturity of the branches and leaves of the grass dry, the roots away from the earth, floating with the wind, the poet wrote the feeling of drifting.
The fifth and sixth lines: the vast desert in the lonely smoke straight up into the clouds, the Yellow River on the sunset round.
The scene depicts the magnificent and majestic scenery in the frontier desert, with a wide realm and majestic weather. This couplet consists of two images. The first is the lonely smoke in the desert. In the desert, in front of the poet's eyes is such a scene: yellow sand, boundless. Looking up at the sky, there is not a single cloud in the sky. No grass, no trees, no travel. Very far away, but see the end of the sky there is a wisp of smoke in the rise, the poet's spirit was revitalized, seems to think that the desert has a little bit of life. It was the smoke of a beacon, which told the poet that he was about to reach his destination.
Another image is the setting sun of the Yangtze River. The poet is about to stand on a hill overlooking the winding river. It is evening, the setting sun is low over the river, and the water is sparkling. What a wonderful moment it was!
The last two lines: When I arrived at Xiaoguan, I encountered scouting cavalry and learned that the commander-in-chief was still at the front line and had not yet returned.
When I arrived at the border, I did not meet the general, and the scouts told the envoy that the chief general was at the Yanran front.
The poet focuses his ink on the aspect in which he excels the most - writing scenery, and the poet skillfully dissolves his loneliness in the depiction of the vast natural scenery.
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.
