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I gaze east at my hometown down the long, long road;
My two sleeves are decrepit, my tears have not yet dried.
We suddenly meet by chance, but I’ve no brush nor paper:
“I’ll have to ask you to report, ‘He’s safe and sound.’”
逢入京使
故园东望路漫漫，
双袖龙钟泪不干。
马上相逢无纸笔，
凭君传语报平安。
(When your dictionary uses a poem as a usage example, I think it’s safe to assume it’s well-known.) The poet was traveling for the first time away from his home in Chang’an, heading to an official posting in the far west, in what’s now the western end of Gansu Province. If it’s not clear from my wording, he’s asking the envoy to pass on an oral message to his family.
—L.
My two sleeves are decrepit, my tears have not yet dried.
We suddenly meet by chance, but I’ve no brush nor paper:
“I’ll have to ask you to report, ‘He’s safe and sound.’”
逢入京使
故园东望路漫漫，
双袖龙钟泪不干。
马上相逢无纸笔，
凭君传语报平安。
(When your dictionary uses a poem as a usage example, I think it’s safe to assume it’s well-known.) The poet was traveling for the first time away from his home in Chang’an, heading to an official posting in the far west, in what’s now the western end of Gansu Province. If it’s not clear from my wording, he’s asking the envoy to pass on an oral message to his family.
—L.