Today has hurt my heart even more.
The autumn wildgeese have a long wind for escort
As I face them from this villa, drinking my wine.
The bones of great writers are your brushes, in the School of Heaven,
And I am a Lesser Hsieh growing up by your side.
We both are exalted to distant thought,
Aspiring to the sky and the bright moon.
But since water still flows, though we cut it with our swords,
And sorrows return, though we drown them with wine,
Since the world can in no way answer our craving,
I will loosen my hair tomorrow and take to a fishing-boat.
Original Poem:
「宣州谢朓楼饯别校书叔云」
李白
弃我去者昨日之日不可留；
乱我心者今日之日多烦忧。
长风万里送秋雁， 对此可以酣高楼。
蓬莱文章建安骨， 中间小谢又清发，
俱怀逸兴壮思飞， 欲上青天览明月。
抽刀断水水更流， 举杯销愁愁更愁。
人生在世不称意， 明朝散发弄扁舟。
Interpretation:
This poem was written in Anhui Province in 755 AD. Li Bai is known as the “Poetry Immortal”, his poems, poetic thinking, unrestrained, strange imagination, but can use this to enlighten the other, a breath of air, the pulse is not chaotic, and the atmosphere of the clouds, this poem is the most see this characteristic of his masterpieces.
The whole poem starts with singing and sighing, expressing the bitter days of the past and the sadness of today. Because of the farewell friend, he climbed a high building in autumn, looking at the long wind and flying geese, looking down on the world, feeling a lot of emotions, so he sang to the wine. Here, the poet’s worry is not the farewell, but the lack of talent. Next, he associates the Xie Wu Lou with famous poets of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, alluding to the talents and aspirations of Shujun and himself as well as those present. He praised the school’s writer for his mature writing, the style of Penglai in the two Han dynasties, and the bones of Jian’an; he also said that he was like Xie Wu, who built this building, and his poetry was fresh and beautiful, and that both of them had a strong ambition to go up to the blue sky and fetch the bright moon together. So far, the previous worries in this imagination seems to have dissipated. However, this pleasure to come and go are in a hurry, the sadness and violent attack, the poet will naturally have to remove the crown canoeing, want to break with the world, and from now on the waves of the rivers and lakes to return to the rivers and lakes of the lamentation feelings.
The whole poem sings three sighs, ups and downs, before and after the illumination, the rhyme and harmony, in the ups and downs to show its bold temperament. The poem is also worth mentioning that the writing of sadness is not obscure, the mood is low but not mournful, a series of brightly coloured imagery in the poem, always cleansing a clear air, so that the poem is clear and magical. In this generous and desolate song, what we hear is the protest of a noble heart against the vulgar society, rather than the negative and decadent dirge.
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.
