You have left me behind, old friend, at the Yellow Crane Terrace,
On your way to visit Yang-chou in the misty month of flowers;
Your sail, a single shadow, becomes one with the blue sky,
Till now I see only the river, on its way to heaven.
Original Poem:
「送孟浩然之广陵」
李白
故人西辞黄鹤楼， 烟花三月下扬州。
孤帆远影碧空尽， 惟见长江天际流。
Interpretation:
In 725 A.D., the young Li Bai exited the gorge from Sichuan and lived in Anlu, Hubei for ten years, where he met Meng Haoran, who lived in seclusion on Mount Lumen in Xiangyang. The Yellow Crane Tower is on the riverside in Wuhan's Wuchang district and has traditionally been a popular tourist destination. Guangling, or Yangzhou, was one of the most prosperous cities in the Tang Dynasty.
The first two lines: My friend said goodbye to me at the Yellow Crane Tower and went on a long trip to Yangzhou in March, when the willows were like smoke and the flowers were like blossoms.
Wuhan is in the west, Yangzhou is in the east, from Wuhan to Yangzhou, downstream to the east, naturally to the west to say goodbye to the Yellow Crane Tower. The word “fireworks” refers to the beautiful scenery in the mist of spring. March in Jiangnan, the wind is bright, Meng Haoran will go to the flowers, embroidered household curtains of the famous city of Jiangnan, how not to make people relaxed and happy. These two lines on the surface only write the farewell characters, location, time and destination, but through the words can clearly feel the poet's yearning for the prosperous Yangzhou.
In the last two lines, the shadow of the lone ship's sail gradually disappears at the end of the blue sky, and only the rolling Yangtze River is seen running toward the sky.
Through the description of the natural scenery and the farewell scene, the feelings of farewell are skillfully expressed. After saying goodbye at the top of the building, Meng Haoran boarded the boat and set sail. The poet still stands by the riverside, seeing off the old man by boat only far away, gradually disappeared in the white clouds and blue water. Farewell feelings such as running water, the poet gazed at the sky river, then only a river of surging waves, running to the end of the blue sky, as if reluctant to catch up with friends traveling far away. The whole picture is a mixture of scenes, giving people a feeling of vastness and emptiness.
The poet's parting feeling for his friend's long journey, his regret for not being able to travel with him, and his infinite longing for the scenic beauty of Yangzhou are all in the image of the farewell by the river.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Li Bai (李白), 701 ~ 762 A.D., whose ancestral home was in Gansu, was preceded by Li Guang, a general of the Han Dynasty. Tang poetry is one of the brightest constellations in the history of Chinese literature, and one of the brightest stars is Li Bai.
