When gaily the Emperor toured the south
Contrary to every warning,
His whole empire cut brocades,
Half for wheel-guards, half for sails.
Original Poem:
「为有」
为有云屏无限娇， 凤城寒尽怕春宵。
无端嫁得金龟婿， 辜负香衾事早朝李商隐
Interpretation:
This is a political satire. Emperor Yang made three trips to the south of the Yangtze River, and the poet has written many poems to attack on the labour and desolation of the people and the country. The poet has written many poems against it. This poem satirises the despotism of Emperor Yang by singing about the palace of the Sui Dynasty. The irony of this poem is very sharp, but not directly discuss, but with typical examples, to create a vivid image, implicitly, cleverly expressed, impassioned in the beautiful, witty and humorous, like a calm sea, turbulent currents, but the surface does not move.
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”.
