New Year's only deepens my longing,
Adds to the lonely tears of an exile
Who, growing old and still in harness,
Is left here by the homing spring...
Monkeys come down from the mountains to haunt me.
I bend like a willow, when it rains on the river.
I think of Chia Yi, who taught here and died here -
And I wonder what my term shall be.
Original Poem:
「新年作」
刘长卿
乡心新岁切，天畔独潸然。
老至居人下，春归在客先。
岭猿同旦暮，江柳共风烟。
已似长沙傅，从今又几年。
Interpretation:
This poem was written when the author was relegated to the position of Nanba Lieutenant. Liu Zhangqing was falsely accused by Emperor Suzong of the Tang Dynasty and was relegated to the position of Lieutenant of Nanba County in Panzhou, so his nostalgia for his hometown was naturally even more sorrowful in the New Year.
About the poet:
Liu Zhangqing (刘长卿-) was a native of Xian County, Hebei Province. He studied at Mt. Songshan when he was young, and later moved to Jiangxi, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 733 A.D. He also belonged to the Wang and Meng school of poetry. His poems belonged to the school of Wang and Meng, and he was most famous for his five-character poems, and was also most conceited, once thinking that he was “the Great Wall of five-character poems”, which meant that no one could surpass him.
The poet naturally missed his hometown and his family in the New Year. But he was relegated to a distant land in the sky, thousands of miles, want to return can not, but alone weeping tears. Coupled with the poet’s advanced age but humble official position, under the people, it is more sad. People can not return home, but the spring breeze has returned home, the poet can not help but envy the spring breeze. The poet sighs that he is in a foreign land, can only live with the mountain apes, and the river willows to enjoy the wind and smoke, like this, similar to Jia Yi’s relegation to Changsha, I don’t know how many more years before the end of the day?
This poem is not only about expressing nostalgia for the New Year. The poet compares himself to Jia Yi and expresses his indignation at what he has suffered.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
