Seeing Off Wei Wan, Heading to the Capital, Li Qi (300 Tang Shi #173)

[lnhammer]

At dawn I hear a traveler sing the “Black Horse” song:
Last night, the barest frost—now, you cross the River.
I cannot worry, hearing swan-geese in the village—
They show you won’t pass cloudy mountains till mid-journey.
At the gate-pass, tree colors urge the winter on.
Beside the palace, sounds of beating grow with evening.
Don’t think Chang’an is just a place to go for music:
The empty months and years slip easily away.

送魏万之京
朝闻游子唱骊歌，
昨夜微霜初度河。
鸿雁不堪愁里听，
云山况是客中过。
关城树色催寒近，
御苑砧声向晚多。
莫见长安行乐处，
空令岁月易蹉跎。

Wei Wan spent his youth wandering the land in emulation of Li Bai, before living in seclusion for a few years on Mt. Wangwu (see #160). He left for Chang’an to take the imperial examinations, and got first place in his year—though whether this Polonius’s advice had any effect is unclear. “Black Horse” was, as is no doubt obvious, a traditional song of parting. Traveling from Wangwu to Chang’an requires crossing the Yellow River. The migrating swan-goose (Anser cygnoides) winters in central China. Washing the summer-weight clothes before putting them away for winter storage is a canonical autumn household chore.

Lines 3-4 are syntactically really weird, which means not only am I guessing at how to read them, but I had to straighten them out considerably to make them coherent.

—L.

Comments

[sartorias]

I think it's successful overall. It's the images, even if the emotions (what little we get) are generic.

[lnhammer]

Agreed. (BTW, bio corrected.)