Translation
Commentary
This poem was written at a gathering of poet friends on the topic of saying farewell to their friend, Li Zhou. Multiple titles were assigned, and Wei Yinwu received the title “Evening Rain” to work with in creating this poem.
He paints a vivid and dark scene, saying goodbye as his friend sails into the Chu River, below the Three Gorges and near the city of Jianye (modern Nanjing), amidst a dark and gloomy mist that weighs down the sails on the boats and the birds’ wings, causing them to fly slowly. The trees are abundant, mixing in with the mist and darkness to make it impossible to see afar. In the end, their clothes are moistened by tears that the poet compares to “strings of silk.”
Original Chinese
Traditional | Simplified | Pronunciation |
韋應物 | 韦应物 | Wéi Yìngwù |
賦得暮雨送李冑 | 赋得暮雨送李胄 | Fù dé mù yǔ sòng lǐ zhòu |
楚江微雨裡， | 楚江微雨里， | Chǔ jiāng wēi yǔ lǐ, |
建業暮鐘時。 | 建业暮钟时。 | Jiàn yè mù zhōng shí. |
漠漠帆來重， | 漠漠帆来重， | Mò mò fān lái zhòng, |
冥冥鳥去遲。 | 冥冥鸟去迟。 | Míng míng niǎo qù chí. |
海門深不見， | 海门深不见， | Hǎi mén shēn bù jiàn, |
浦樹遠含滋。 | 浦树远含滋。 | Pǔ shù yuǎn hán zī. |
相送情無限， | 相送情无限， | Xiāng sòng qíng wú xiàn, |
沾襟比散絲。 | 沾襟比散丝。 | Zhān jīn bǐ sàn sī. |
Literal Notes
韋應物 | Tanned-leather Must Thing [=Wei Yinwu (737-792)] |
賦得暮雨送李冑 | Poetic-Essay Obtain Evening Rain Seeing-off Li/plum Zhou/helmet [Poetic-Essay Obtain = in ancient times, there is a way of writing poems named “assign titles.” When poets got together they selected a topic and several titles, then assigned titles to everyone and started to write poems. On such an occasion, poets added “Give Obtain” in front of the title to indicate it was an assigned title. So Wei Yingwu was assigned with the title “Evening Rain” while “Seeing Off Li Zhou” was the topic.], [Some editions write “Li Zhou” as “李冑” while others write it as “李曹.” Little is known about him.] |
楚江微雨裡， | Chu/clear River trifling/micro rain within [Chu River = the part of Yangtze River which flows through State of Chu.] |
建業暮鐘時。 | Jian/build Ye/trade evening bell time/hour [Jian Ye = modern-day Nanjing city] |
漠漠帆來重， | Cool cool sail/boat come/return heavy [Cool cool = misty/foggy], [heavy = the sail was wet from the drizzle] |
冥冥鳥去遲。 | Dark gloomy bird leaves/goes-away slow [slow = the bird flew slowly (because of the weather) ] |
海門深不見， | Sea/ocean gate/door/entrance deep/far no see [Sea gate = the estuary of Yangtze River] |
浦樹遠含滋。 | Bank-of-river/riverside/shore tree distant/remote/far hold-in-mouth/cherish/contain grow/multiply/thrive/moist-and-flourishing |
相送情無限， | Each-other/mutual see-off/send-off feeling/sentiment/emotion no boundary/limit |
沾襟比散絲。 | Moisten/wet/soak lapel/collar to-compare/liken scatter/disperse/break-up silk/fine-thread/strings [Moisten lapel = tears drop down and wet the clothes], [scatter silk = Zhang Xie(Jin Dynasty) wrote verse, such as “the drizzle is like threads of silk” (密雨如散絲). So in this poem, “散絲” refers to the drizzle. In the last line, the author compares his dropping tears to the drizzle.] |
Year:
2012
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