Written on Returning to Mt. Song, Wang Wei (300 Tang Shi #117)

[lnhammer]

The river’s clear, a long thin belt.
My cart-horse walks on idly.
It’s like the stream is fond of me.
The birds at dusk pair up together.
Neglected walls face the old ferry
As sunset fills the autumn mountains.
I’ve come from far to under high Song
Returning once more to this shut gate.

归嵩山作
清川带长薄，
车马去闲闲。
流水如有意，
暮禽相与还。
荒城临古渡，
落日满秋山。
迢递嵩高下，
归来且闭关。

Mt. Song (also called Gaosong, “high Song”) in western Henan is one of the five sacred mountains of Daoism and the site of the Buddhist Shaolin Temple (the mother ship of both Zen Buddhism, regarding which more once we get to #119, and kung fu). The closed gate is a signifier for a temple or monastery where the occupants are in contemplative meditation—I think we’re to understand that this includes rather than excludes the speaker.

I feel like I’ve not really grasped the spirit of this one.

---L.

Comments

[sartorias]

First half, such luminous images.

[lnhammer]

They are, which let me to wonder whether I'd really grasped the second half. After some more time poring over dictionaries, OTOH, I'm pretty sure my misunderstanding was in l.3-4. Here's a revision of the first half:

The river’s clear, a long thin sash.
My cart-horse walks on idly.
The current seems to share my feelings.
The birds at dusk go home with me.

[sartorias]

Interesting. Different shades, there.

[lnhammer]

Yup. Ones that work better together as a whole.