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lnhammerBeautiful trees separately gathered:
Inverted images in clear ripples.
They didn’t learn from the royal moat—
Those sadden on parting in spring winds.
The water’s reflections appear as one—
A puff, and they scatter like silk threads.
Joined shadows already have the earth:
Who evades time in that clay house?
柳浪
分行接绮树，
倒影入清漪。
不学御沟上，
春风伤别离。
映池同一色，
逐吹散如丝。
结阴既得地，
何谢陶家时。
Still at the lake. The italics in Wang’s last line are because he’s apparently making a contrast with the current autumn season. Because willow (柳: modern pronunciation liǔ) sounds like stay (留: modern liú), it was the custom when seeing someone off to give the departer a willow branch. There was a pedestrian walkway on the bank of the moat around the imperial palace in Chang’an, beneath many willows, and so a site for many farewells during the season of official postings. Pei seems to be saying, “Sadness upon parting? I’ll give you a reason to be sad.” (That said, that last line still needs work.)
---L.
Inverted images in clear ripples.
They didn’t learn from the royal moat—
Those sadden on parting in spring winds.
The water’s reflections appear as one—
A puff, and they scatter like silk threads.
Joined shadows already have the earth:
Who evades time in that clay house?
柳浪
分行接绮树，
倒影入清漪。
不学御沟上，
春风伤别离。
映池同一色，
逐吹散如丝。
结阴既得地，
何谢陶家时。
Still at the lake. The italics in Wang’s last line are because he’s apparently making a contrast with the current autumn season. Because willow (柳: modern pronunciation liǔ) sounds like stay (留: modern liú), it was the custom when seeing someone off to give the departer a willow branch. There was a pedestrian walkway on the bank of the moat around the imperial palace in Chang’an, beneath many willows, and so a site for many farewells during the season of official postings. Pei seems to be saying, “Sadness upon parting? I’ll give you a reason to be sad.” (That said, that last line still needs work.)
---L.