After these ten torn wearisome years
We have met again. We were both so changed
That hearing first your surname, I thought you a stranger -
Then hearing your given name, I remembered your young face...
All that has happened with the tides
We have told and told till the evening bell.
Tomorrow you journey to Yo-chou,
Leaving autumn between us, peak after peak.
Original Poem:
「喜见外弟又言别」
李益
十年离乱后，长大一相逢。
问姓惊初见，称名忆旧容。
别来沧海事，语罢暮天钟。
明日巴陵道，秋山又几重？
Interpretation:
The beauty of this poem is that it is able to truly and vividly express the feelings of life in a chaotic world and the psychological state of sorrow and joy in the moment of meeting after a long goodbye.
The war has been, a goodbye is ten years. The poet and his brother were still young when they left each other, but today they have grown up. When they first met, they asked each other’s names, as if they were friends for the first time, and only when they said their names did they recall each other’s old faces. Thousands of words, can’t finish saying goodbye to the changes, do not know, has come to the temple’s evening bell. The next day each other will be separated, the other will be stepping on the Baling Road, heavy autumn mountains, and will separate the two sides.
The country is in turmoil, the poet and his cousin are on different sides of the world, after ten years of reunion, a long time to see each other for the first time, the two seem to have not known each other, after exchanging their names, only to recall the previous appearance. Each of them talked about the situation of the farewell until late at night. The next day, the two are to part again, with the heavy autumn mountains, not knowing when they will be able to meet together.
This poem is written in simple language to express the sadness and joy of separation. The poem has a long-lasting meaning and portrays the displaced people’s living condition in the turbulent years.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Li Yi (李益), 748-829 AD, a native of Wuwei in Gansu Province, was one of the “Ten Scholarly Men of the Dali Dynasty”, and is best known for his works on the border and the Plateau, especially for his seven-character stanzas. His poems had a harmonious rhythm and were sung by musicians at that time.
