The thread in the hands of a fond-hearted mother
Makes clothes for the body of her wayward boy;
Carefully she sews and thoroughly she mends,
Dreading the delays that will keep him late from home.
But how much love has the inch-long grass
For three spring months of the light of the sun?
Original Poem:
「游子吟」
孟郊
慈母手中线，游子身上衣；
临行密密缝，意恐迟迟归；
谁言寸草心，报得三春辉。
Interpretation:
This is a famous piece of writing about the deep love between mother and son.
In the first four lines, the poet writes about mother’s love, and the poet chooses the scene of a mother hurrying to make clothes for her son, and through the action of sewing, she reveals the mother’s mood in a very delicate and profound way. The poet has shown the mother’s love in a small way, which is very deep and broad. In the last two lines, the metaphor of the grass not being able to repay the kindness of spring is novel and apt, expressing the son’s deep gratitude to his mother and expressing his infinite gratitude to her.
Meng Jiao had a hard life and had many difficulties on his way to the imperial examination. He was 46 years old before he won the scholarship, and only at the age of 50 did he get the post of lieutenant of Liyang (present-day Liyang, Jiangsu Province), which was a small official in charge of the security of a county. Meng Jiao’s age and experience to write the praise of mother’s love, not only from the heart, but also a deep understanding, which makes this short poem contains a wealth of life experience and passion, so that the millions of readers throughout the ages to produce a strong resonance, tearful, and evoke the world’s children’s sincere memories and affectionate associations.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the Poet:
Meng Jiao (孟郊), 751-814 A.D., was a native of Deqing, Zhejiang Province, and spent his early years in the mountains of Songshan, Henan Province. In 796 A.D., he was forty-six years old when he first became a jinshi. In 800 A.D., he became a lieutenant of Liyang, but later resigned. In 806 AD, Meng Jiao moved to be the counselor of Xingyuan Army, but he died on the way to his post, and his friend Zhang Ji and other friends posthumously named him Mr. Zhen Yao.
Meng Jiao wrote more than 400 poems, most of them were Lefu and ancient poems, most of which were about personal sorrow and loneliness, and expressed cynical thoughts and feelings. Some of his poems also expose the social phenomenon of disparity between the rich and the poor, and sympathize with the suffering of the people. He used words and phrases to avoid mediocrity, and pursued the ancient, strange and dangerous, cold and craggy style of poetry. He was a famous bitter poet, and was also famous with Jia Island, known as “Cold and Thin on the Outside Island”. He was also known as Jia Dao, and was known as the “Thin and Cold Island”. He was also known as Han Yu, the founder of the Han and Meng School of Poetry.
