Missing Each Other, Wang Wei (Tang Shi #227)
Monday, 20 May 2019 10:09![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lnhammerThose red beans growing in the South—
Spring comes, how many on each branch!
I want you, Sir, to pick so many:
They’ll show how much we miss each other.
相思
红豆生南国，
春来发几枝。
愿君多采撷，
此物最相思。
Hóngdòu (红豆, Abrus precatorius) was used as a love token, but given this poem is cited all over when glossing that, I can’t tell if Wang Wei is reflecting or starting the tradition. “Pick so many” is ridiculously prosaic but it’s all I’ve got at the moment. Also, still notking rhymed.
(I should mention that 300 Tang Poems is organized by poetic form. I’m starting with the poems with 4 5-character lines because they’re the shortest and I wanted baby steps. I mean, I don’t want to start with “The Song of Everlasting Regret.”)
—L.
Spring comes, how many on each branch!
I want you, Sir, to pick so many:
They’ll show how much we miss each other.
相思
红豆生南国，
春来发几枝。
愿君多采撷，
此物最相思。
Hóngdòu (红豆, Abrus precatorius) was used as a love token, but given this poem is cited all over when glossing that, I can’t tell if Wang Wei is reflecting or starting the tradition. “Pick so many” is ridiculously prosaic but it’s all I’ve got at the moment. Also, still not
(I should mention that 300 Tang Poems is organized by poetic form. I’m starting with the poems with 4 5-character lines because they’re the shortest and I wanted baby steps. I mean, I don’t want to start with “The Song of Everlasting Regret.”)
—L.