On a part of a spear still unrusted in the sand
I have burnished the symbol of an ancient kingdom...
Except for a wind aiding General Zhou Yu,
Spring would have sealed both Qiao girls in CopperBird Palace.
Original Poem:
「赠别二首 · 其一」
杜牧
娉娉袅袅十三余，豆蔻梢头二月初。
春风十里扬州路，卷上珠帘总不如。
Interpretation:
The poet, disillusioned with the life of a Yangzhou bureaucrat, will bid farewell to Yangzhou, and give the poem to his favorite courtesan to express his praise and farewell.
The first two lines: thirteen or fourteen years old girl posture curvaceous, demeanor light and beautiful, just like in February, buds waiting to bloom, the first tip of the cardamom flowers.
Positively describing the woman's beauty, light and beautiful posture, and then turned to write about the spring flowers, obviously the flowers than women. With a series of subtle metaphors to write a person like the beauty of flowers.
The last two lines: ten miles of Yangzhou Road, the spring breeze myrtle, pearl curtains and green curtains in the beauty of Shu Li did not compare to her.
These two lines try to render the grandeur of the luxurious metropolis, giving people a sense of being in the hustle and bustle of the ten-mile-long street. Yangzhou City, the song and dance buildings, beautiful women like clouds, how many pearl curtains rolled up, curtains and how many red shirts and green sleeves of the good people, so many good people are not as good as the songstress, the poetic meaning of the implicit but not revealed.
The whole poem is written from the lover to the flower, from the flower to the downtown of the spring city, and from the downtown to the beauty, and the beauty of the ring arch lover.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Du Mu (杜牧), 803-853 AD, was a native of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. Among the poets of the Late Tang Dynasty, he was one of those who had his own characteristics, and later people called Li Shangyin and Du Mu as "Little Li and Du". His poems are bright and colorful.
