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A Traveler’s Inn, Du Mu (300 Tang Shi #153)
Saturday, 2 April 2022 11:09A traveler’s inn without a good companion.
I’m lost in thought, melancholy indeed,
And by the cold lamp ponder past events.
One wild goose rouses me from anxious slumber,
Returning me from distant dreams to daybreak.
A message from home arrived a year delayed.
A dark-green river—pleasing mist and moonlight—
A fishing boat is tied before the gate.
旅宿
旅馆无良伴，
凝情自悄然。
寒灯思旧事，
断雁警愁眠。
远梦归侵晓，
家书到隔年。
沧江好烟月，
门系钓鱼船。
The last two lines could be describing the scene outside, a dream, or home. Commentaries seem inclined to the last, but given the title, I prefer to understand the first. I’m actually rather impressed by the layers of past and present shifting throughout the poem—it evokes a tenor similar to Narihira.
---L.
I’m lost in thought, melancholy indeed,
And by the cold lamp ponder past events.
One wild goose rouses me from anxious slumber,
Returning me from distant dreams to daybreak.
A message from home arrived a year delayed.
A dark-green river—pleasing mist and moonlight—
A fishing boat is tied before the gate.
旅宿
旅馆无良伴，
凝情自悄然。
寒灯思旧事，
断雁警愁眠。
远梦归侵晓，
家书到隔年。
沧江好烟月，
门系钓鱼船。
The last two lines could be describing the scene outside, a dream, or home. Commentaries seem inclined to the last, but given the title, I prefer to understand the first. I’m actually rather impressed by the layers of past and present shifting throughout the poem—it evokes a tenor similar to Narihira.
---L.