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lnhammerOnce your guest by the River Han,
We meet by chance—both of us drunk.
Clouds floating, one behind another—
Water flowing, a ten-year span—
Glad smiles, a feeling as of old—
Our hair is sparse and already grizzled.
Why haven’t I returned back north?
Huaishang faces autumn mountains.
淮上喜会梁川故人
江汉曾为客，
相逢每醉还。
浮云一别后，
流水十年间。
欢笑情如旧，
萧疏鬓已斑。
何因北归去？
淮上对秋山。
Huaishang on the banks of the Huai River is a district of what’s now Bengbu City, Anhui, and the town of Liangchuan (“Liang River”) was in what’s now Hanzhong, in southern Shaanxi—which is on the Han River. Lost in translation: the hair is specifically that on their “temples,” though this conventionally represents all the head. The implication of the final line is that the local autumn mountains are captivating—a startling sentiment after seeing Chinese poets gush over spring green rather more than over autumn leaves. (Contrast the Kokinshu.)
—L.
We meet by chance—both of us drunk.
Clouds floating, one behind another—
Water flowing, a ten-year span—
Glad smiles, a feeling as of old—
Our hair is sparse and already grizzled.
Why haven’t I returned back north?
Huaishang faces autumn mountains.
淮上喜会梁川故人
江汉曾为客，
相逢每醉还。
浮云一别后，
流水十年间。
欢笑情如旧，
萧疏鬓已斑。
何因北归去？
淮上对秋山。
Huaishang on the banks of the Huai River is a district of what’s now Bengbu City, Anhui, and the town of Liangchuan (“Liang River”) was in what’s now Hanzhong, in southern Shaanxi—which is on the Han River. Lost in translation: the hair is specifically that on their “temples,” though this conventionally represents all the head. The implication of the final line is that the local autumn mountains are captivating—a startling sentiment after seeing Chinese poets gush over spring green rather more than over autumn leaves. (Contrast the Kokinshu.)
—L.