Divided from Li Duan, Lu Lun (300 Tang Shi #145)
Thursday, 24 March 2022 08:49![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lnhammerAn old pass—withered grass is everywhere.
Our parting truly is one worthy of sorrow.
Your road heads out beyond the winter clouds—
This person will head back in evening snow.
An orphan, I wandered as a younger man—
After hardships, I came to know you late.
Concealing tears, I face you empty-hearted:
In the wind-blown dust, where and when will it be?
李端公
故关衰草遍，
离别正堪悲。
路出寒云外，
人归暮雪时。
少孤为客早，
多难识君迟。
掩泪空相向，
风尘何处期。
In the Complete Tang Poems, this is attributed to Yan Wei under a different title. The “divided” sense of 公 (which is more commonly read as “public” or a title equivalent to “duke”) has the specific sense of “divided into equal parts” —so as if being split from his other half. If anyone has a way to convey this in English, please tell. Regardless, the context is otherwise of a standard “seeing someone else off” poem (and indeed, the Yan Wei variants are titled “Seeing Off Li Duan”) though conveyed with an intensity that’s rather stronger (almost to the point of being slashy) than typical.
Despite having two actual personal referents, I struggled with the implied pronouns more than usual, and I’m not alone: checking five other translations, both English and modern Chinese, no two agreed on all lines as to who’s being talked about.
---L.
Our parting truly is one worthy of sorrow.
Your road heads out beyond the winter clouds—
This person will head back in evening snow.
An orphan, I wandered as a younger man—
After hardships, I came to know you late.
Concealing tears, I face you empty-hearted:
In the wind-blown dust, where and when will it be?
李端公
故关衰草遍，
离别正堪悲。
路出寒云外，
人归暮雪时。
少孤为客早，
多难识君迟。
掩泪空相向，
风尘何处期。
In the Complete Tang Poems, this is attributed to Yan Wei under a different title. The “divided” sense of 公 (which is more commonly read as “public” or a title equivalent to “duke”) has the specific sense of “divided into equal parts” —so as if being split from his other half. If anyone has a way to convey this in English, please tell. Regardless, the context is otherwise of a standard “seeing someone else off” poem (and indeed, the Yan Wei variants are titled “Seeing Off Li Duan”) though conveyed with an intensity that’s rather stronger (almost to the point of being slashy) than typical.
Despite having two actual personal referents, I struggled with the implied pronouns more than usual, and I’m not alone: checking five other translations, both English and modern Chinese, no two agreed on all lines as to who’s being talked about.
---L.