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Once More Leaving Sixth-Rank Staffer Xue and …[full title inside], Liu Changqing (300 Tang Shi #195)
Once More Leaving Sixth-Rank Staffer Xue and Eighth-Rank Staffer Liu in Jiangzhou, Liu Changqing
Who would’ve thought? —it’s such a superior decree.
But all I know of the world is study, drink, and song.
Bright moon above the river—a Tartar goose flies through—
Trees scatter south of the Huai—Chu mountains are so many.
I’ll lodge tonight, so fortunate, by an azure isle.
I face my reflection, no help for it, I’ve white hair—how?!
Today’s our ‘dragon time,’ for people age together—
I’m shamed, for you instructed me: ’ware wind and waves.
江州重别薛六柳八二员外
生涯岂料承优诏？
世事空知学醉歌。
江上月明胡雁过，
淮南木落楚山多。
寄身且喜沧洲近，
顾影无如白发何！
今日龙钟人共老，
愧君犹遣慎风波。
Xue and Liu were lower-rank government employees. (All government positions were ranked, and knowing your relative rank with someone was Really Important for protocol—9 is the lowest rank for scholar-officials.) It’s unclear what job the author had, but it was written around 758, a couple years after passing the imperial exams, so he was probably of comparable rank. Jiangzhou is now Jiujiang, Jiangxi, close to what had been the border of the Warring State of Chu. Lost in translation: the decree is received “(in one’s) career,” which signals that it being “superior” is ironic—probably it’s a demotion. Jiangzhou is more than 400 km south of the Huai River, but see #155. An “azure island” is one of the canonical retreats for a hermit in seclusion. A “dragon time” is both one of decrepitude and one of challenge—making this a rare-in-serious-poetry pun. “Wind and waves” is a standard symbol for the hazards of bureaucratic infighting.
Oh, this was so much easier to understand than Du Fu …
Who would’ve thought? —it’s such a superior decree.
But all I know of the world is study, drink, and song.
Bright moon above the river—a Tartar goose flies through—
Trees scatter south of the Huai—Chu mountains are so many.
I’ll lodge tonight, so fortunate, by an azure isle.
I face my reflection, no help for it, I’ve white hair—how?!
Today’s our ‘dragon time,’ for people age together—
I’m shamed, for you instructed me: ’ware wind and waves.
江州重别薛六柳八二员外
生涯岂料承优诏？
世事空知学醉歌。
江上月明胡雁过，
淮南木落楚山多。
寄身且喜沧洲近，
顾影无如白发何！
今日龙钟人共老，
愧君犹遣慎风波。
Xue and Liu were lower-rank government employees. (All government positions were ranked, and knowing your relative rank with someone was Really Important for protocol—9 is the lowest rank for scholar-officials.) It’s unclear what job the author had, but it was written around 758, a couple years after passing the imperial exams, so he was probably of comparable rank. Jiangzhou is now Jiujiang, Jiangxi, close to what had been the border of the Warring State of Chu. Lost in translation: the decree is received “(in one’s) career,” which signals that it being “superior” is ironic—probably it’s a demotion. Jiangzhou is more than 400 km south of the Huai River, but see #155. An “azure island” is one of the canonical retreats for a hermit in seclusion. A “dragon time” is both one of decrepitude and one of challenge—making this a rare-in-serious-poetry pun. “Wind and waves” is a standard symbol for the hazards of bureaucratic infighting.
Oh, this was so much easier to understand than Du Fu …
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At some point, I want to index everyone, not just the poets but who they write to/about ...
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