Year's End, Facing Wine at South Creek, a Farewell to Wang Who’s Returning to the Capital
- Poetry of Bai Juyi

《南浦岁暮对酒送王十五归京》

中文原文( Chinese )

腊后冰生覆湓水，夜来云暗失庐山。

风飘细雪落如米，索索萧萧芦苇间。

此地二年留我住，今朝一酌送君还。

相看渐老无过醉，聚散穷通总是闲。

English Translation

It's deep winter. There's ice spreading across the P'en River,

and when night comes, Lu Mountain fades into dark clouds,

snow falling, buffeted in the gusty wind and fine as rice,

scattering restless and windblown through shoreline reeds.

I've spent two years here, and this morning you start home,

sent off with a mere splash of wine. For us, facing ourselves

grown steadily older, that's plenty. It's all drifting idleness:

everything gathering and scattering, failing and succeeding.

By Bai Juyi

- Last updated: 2024-07-01 09:43:19

Why Chinese poems is so special?: The most distinctive features of Chinese poetry are: concision- many poems are only four lines, and few are much longer than eight; ambiguity- number, tense and parts of speech are often undetermined, creating particularly rich interpretative possibilities; and structure- most poems follow quite strict formal patterns which have beauty in themselves as well as highlighting meaningful contrasts.

How to read a Chinese poem?: Like an English poem, but more so. Everything is there for a reason, so try to find that reason. Think about all the possible connotations, and be aware of the different possibilities of number and tense. Look for contrasts: within lines, between the lines of each couplet and between successive couplets. Above all, don't worry about what the poet meant- find your meaning.

List of Chinese poets