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Ascending the Liuzhou Gate-Tower, Sent to the Four Governors of Zhang, Ting, Feng, and Lian Prefectures, Liu Zongyuan
Above our cities, towers link this wilderness—
The seas and heavens worry, ruling all its vastness.
A sudden gust disturbs the lotus, swaying in water;
The heavy rain slants down, falling on climbing-figs.
Trees on the ranges layered—behold a thousand li.
The river’s flow is twisted like nine turns of the gut.
Together we came to this land of the hundred tattooed Yues,
And yet, our messages blocked, we’re solitary towns.
登柳州城楼寄漳汀封连四州刺史
城上高楼接大荒，
海天愁思正茫茫。
惊风乱颭芙蓉水，
密雨斜侵薜荔墙。
岭树重遮千里目，
江流曲似九回肠。
共来百越文身地，
犹自音书滞一乡。
Liuzhou is in modern Guangxi, in the deep south of the empire, as are Zhangzhou & Tingzhou in Fujian and Fengzhou & Lianzhou in Guangdong—all of them regions primarily settled by non-Han peoples collectively referred to as Yue (much like all the northern steppe peoples are Hu) or the Hundred Yues. Wilderness in this case means not that it’s uninhabited, but it’s not inhabited by Han Chinese. Lost in translation: the wilderness is “wide” and the climbing-figs are “(on the) wall.” Turning guts is also an idiom for anxiety.
—L.
Above our cities, towers link this wilderness—
The seas and heavens worry, ruling all its vastness.
A sudden gust disturbs the lotus, swaying in water;
The heavy rain slants down, falling on climbing-figs.
Trees on the ranges layered—behold a thousand li.
The river’s flow is twisted like nine turns of the gut.
Together we came to this land of the hundred tattooed Yues,
And yet, our messages blocked, we’re solitary towns.
登柳州城楼寄漳汀封连四州刺史
城上高楼接大荒，
海天愁思正茫茫。
惊风乱颭芙蓉水，
密雨斜侵薜荔墙。
岭树重遮千里目，
江流曲似九回肠。
共来百越文身地，
犹自音书滞一乡。
Liuzhou is in modern Guangxi, in the deep south of the empire, as are Zhangzhou & Tingzhou in Fujian and Fengzhou & Lianzhou in Guangdong—all of them regions primarily settled by non-Han peoples collectively referred to as Yue (much like all the northern steppe peoples are Hu) or the Hundred Yues. Wilderness in this case means not that it’s uninhabited, but it’s not inhabited by Han Chinese. Lost in translation: the wilderness is “wide” and the climbing-figs are “(on the) wall.” Turning guts is also an idiom for anxiety.
—L.