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Song of a Traveling Son, Meng Jiao (300 Tang Shi #45)
Thursday, 24 February 2022 10:39A caring mother, thread within her hand—
A traveling son, I lift up my clothes;
When I departed close, so close the stitches—
I’m afraid I’ll be late, so late returning.
Who says that these short grasses have a heart,
Announcing thus the splendid months of spring?
游子吟
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？
A quick break (while I rework the next poem in the sequence) for a folk-song-style poem from Part 2. 吟 (yin) is yet another term for an “old verse form” that seems best translated as the generic “song.” I’ve rendered idioms and syntax a bit more literally than usual, to try bringing out the folk-song flavor. That said, literally it’s “three (of) spring” with the “months” implied.
---L.
A traveling son, I lift up my clothes;
When I departed close, so close the stitches—
I’m afraid I’ll be late, so late returning.
Who says that these short grasses have a heart,
Announcing thus the splendid months of spring?
游子吟
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？
A quick break (while I rework the next poem in the sequence) for a folk-song-style poem from Part 2. 吟 (yin) is yet another term for an “old verse form” that seems best translated as the generic “song.” I’ve rendered idioms and syntax a bit more literally than usual, to try bringing out the folk-song flavor. That said, literally it’s “three (of) spring” with the “months” implied.
---L.