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.
The first four lines: A kind mother holds a needle and thread in her hand, making new clothes for her child who is about to travel far away. Before leaving, she sews the clothes closely, worrying that the child will come back late and the clothes will be damaged.
The poet chooses the scene of a mother hurrying to make clothes for her son, and through the action of sewing, she reveals her mother's feelings in a very delicate and profound way. With “thread” and “clothes” two very common things will “mother” and “wandering son” tightly linked together, write the mother and son depend on each other. The mother and son are dependent on each other's flesh and blood.
The last two sentences: Who says that a weak filial piety like grass can repay the kindness of a loving mother like the spring sunshine?
Is the author directly expresses his feelings, the mother's love for the eulogy. These two sentences use the traditional technique of simile: children are like grass, mother's love is like spring sunshine. How can a child repay a mother's love in the unlikely event? The contrast between the two lines and the figurative simile convey the love of the child for his mother.
This poem artfully reproduces the common sense of ordinary but great human beauty, so it has won the strong resonance of countless readers over the centuries.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the Poet:
Meng Jiao (孟郊) was born in 751 - 814 AD, a native of Deqing, Zhejiang Province. Meng Jiao's poems include more than 400 poems, most of which are about personal sorrows and loneliness, expressing cynicism, while some of them expose the social phenomenon of disparity between the rich and the poor, and sympathize with the people's suffering.
