<Song of Water Clock> Seeing Sun Juyuan off
- Poetry of Su Shi

《更漏子·送孙巨源》

- Last updated: 2024-03-23 17:07:35

中文原文

水涵空，山照市，西汉二疏乡里。新白发，旧黄金，故人恩义深。

海东头，山尽处，自古客槎来去。槎有信，赴秋期，使君行不归。

English Translation

The water joins the sky,

The town girt with hils high,

This is al and of talents as of yore

Your hair has turned white

Of gold you make light,

You value friendship more

East of the sea,

Where end the hills you see,

Boats come and go since days of old

They have a date；

For you I'l wait.

Will you comeback with autumn cold?

The poet writes this lyric for Sun Ju yuan who left the capital together with him but went back before him.

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