Poem Given to Chang Yi, Zhu Jun

[lnhammer]

Chang Yi’s home was near Qing Creek in Nanjing. One day a person delivering a message arrived called Zhu Jun, a County Scholar of Wu County who had heard of him. (Yi) understood he was not speaking with a living person. At the end of the message was a poem, and within these writings (in the style) of the era of subduing ancient barbarians was a request to meet with him. The county scholar wore the cornered headcloth (of a hermit) and unlined hemp clothing, with a relaxed stride, possibly about 50 years old, demeanor elegant and calm with a clear and refined presence. He said he was the paternal nephew of Zhu Yi of the Liang Dynasty, and in the above-mentioned prefecture he achieved the highest level of county scholar, but this was followed by many troubles from all directions and finally he did not become an official, and he decided in the end that he was finished with this earth. (Yi) asked him to explain events between the Liang and Chen Dynasties, and one by one they were clarified. After several visits, they spoke together (as if) at a banquet and composed poems.

Throughout my life I wandered city walls,
In death I didn’t meet with unchecked thickets—
I myself took leave of the mortal world,
No longer knowing neither spring nor autumn.
Cattle and sheep have long come to the herders
And pines and cypress turn to firewood—
I left behind the carriages and horses,
Willing to follow mobs of hares and foxes.
From what place did this cooling breeze arrive?
A noble man, my neighbor fortunate—
So ardent, he, and with a name for virtue,
I just don’t want to end this looked-for visit.
A thousand years, I’ll ask you dawn and dusk—
A single house where move both men and gods,
A lofty tree as if beneath the full moon,
An open road that’s very easy to follow.
If the great gateway won’t open easily,
Together we’ll divide the Dragon Crossing.

贻常夷诗
作者：朱均
〈建康常夷，家近清溪。一日，有人赍书至，称吴郡朱秀才均相闻，悉非生人语。末有一诗，夷尅期书中，请与相见。秀才著角巾，葛单衣，曳履，可年五十许，风度闲和，雅有清致，自云梁朝朱异从子，本州举秀才高第，属四方多难，遂无宦情，陈永定末终此地。问梁陈间事，历历分明。后数相来往，谈宴赋诗。〉
平生游城郭，
殂没委荒榛。
自我辞人世，
不知秋与春。
牛羊久来牧，
松柏几成薪。
分绝车马好，
甘随狐兔群。
何处清风至，
君子幸为邻。
烈烈盛名德，
依依伫良宾。
千年何旦暮，
一室动人神。
乔木如在望，
通衢良易遵。
高门傥无隔，
向与析龙津。

I feel like I’ve stumbled upon the pilot episode of a BL historical drama—yeah, sure, a guy around 50 isn’t a boy, but you know what I mean. The Liang Dynasty ruled the south half of China from Nanjing from 502–557, until it was overthrown by the coup that founded the Chen Dynasty. Significantly, during this Southern Dynasties period, male homosexual relationships among the scholar-official class were tolerated and even praised, including pairs of an older man mentoring a younger lover. Fandom, have at it—please.

(Even if this isn’t the start of a romance, through, I’m surprised Chang Yi faces no repercussions from close association with a suicide a couple centuries dead—in many stories, ghosts suck the vital force from the living just by being with them. I’ll have the same question about a couple stories coming up, actually.)

Zhu Yi (483-549) was the trusted but corrupt chief minister of Liang Emperor Wu who died during Huo Jing’s first rebellion, which was ostensibly directed against him. The history of the end of the Liang and beginning of the Chen dynasties is noted as being especially confusing, even compared to the rest of the Northern & Southern Dynasties period. “Foxes and hares” is an idiom for bad or low-status people. The Dragon Crossing is that spillway that a carp, if it leaps over it upstream, can turn into a dragon.

---L.

Comments

[sartorias]

Definitely feely like a novel's opening boiled down to this form!

[lnhammer]

Yuppers.