A bell in the mountain-temple sounds the coming of night.
I hear people at the fishing-town stumble aboard the ferry,
While others follow the sand-bank to their homes along the river.
...I also take a boat and am bound for Lumen Mountain --
And soon the Lumen moonlight is piercing misty trees.
I have come, before I know it, upon an ancient hermitage,
The thatch door, the piney path, the solitude, the quiet,
Where a hermit lives and moves, never needing a companion.
Original Poem:
「夜归鹿门歌」
孟浩然
山寺钟鸣昼已昏， 渔梁渡头争渡喧。
人随沙路向江村， 余亦乘舟归鹿门。
鹿门月照开烟树， 忽到庞公栖隐处。
岩扉松径长寂寥， 惟有幽人自来去。
Interpretation:
This is a poem that sings of the feeling of returning to seclusion. Despite the good nature of a casual sketch of the landscape, however, the theme is to express the feelings and aspirations of the noble and secluded. The poet writes from sunset and dusk to the moon hanging in the night sky, from the Han River boat trip to the Lumen Mountain Road, in essence, from the dusty world to the lonesome nature of the road to seclusion.
Meng Haoran has been living in seclusion in his home in the South Garden of Da Nang Mountain when he was young, and at the age of forty, he went to Changan to seek a job without success, and returned to his hometown a few years later, determined to follow Pang Degong’s footsteps, and specially set up a place to live in Lumenshan Mountain. Occasionally go to live, in fact, is labeled recluse, although there is a documentary meaning, however, the main idea is to mark the poem is singing recluse feelings and aspirations.
The poem is about what one sees when traveling along the river in the evening: listening to the bells chiming at dusk from the mountain temples, and seeing the clamor of people rushing home on the ferry. The quietness of the mountain temple and the worldly clamor are contrasted, evoking associations, and the poet’s look of idleness and contemplation on the boat, and his dashing, transcendent mood, can be seen clearly.
The scene of climbing Lumen Mountain at night. Under the moonlight of the mountains and trees hazy, intoxicating, unknowingly to the home, when Pang Degong hermit here. These two lines are the eye of the poem, breaking the true meaning of seclusion, isolated from the world, only the mountains and forests are the companion, at this time the poet realized the wonderful realm of “recluse without boredom”.
This poem is written in a plain and natural tone, writing the inner feelings of seclusion, skillful techniques.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Meng Haoran (孟浩然), 689-740 AD, a native of Xiangyang, Hubei, was a famous poet of the Sheng Tang Dynasty. With the exception of one trip to the north when he was in his forties, when he was seeking fame in Chang’an and Luoyang, he spent most of his life in seclusion in his hometown of Lumenshan or roaming around.
