English Rendering
Southward you go, with gibbons’ cries your mournful escort—
as I turn back, autumn grasses blur beneath my tears.
In frozen dusk, snow falls upon the empty hills;
in that desolate land, how few the homes to take you in.
Seeing Off a Friend Exiled to Wuxi
- Poetry of Han Hong
《送客贬五溪》Original Text (中文原文)
南过猿声一逐臣，回看秋草泪沾巾。
寒天暮雪空山里，几处蛮家是主人。
Analysis & Context
This poem was composed during the Mid-Tang period, a time of political turmoil when many scholar-officials faced exile. The subject of this farewell poem was banished to the remote Wuxi region west of the Xiang River, a desolate area inhabited mainly by ethnic minorities. Through the imagery of parting, Han Hong expresses sympathy for his friend's unjust exile while revealing the hardships and helplessness of officials relegated to frontier regions.
Reader's Companion
The Essence of the Verse
Classical Chinese poetry thrives on Concision and Ambiguity. Without tense or number, the words create a timeless space where the reader becomes the co-creator of the poem's meaning.
Reading Between the Lines
Look for Contrasts: light and shadow, movement and stillness. Don't just translate the words; feel the Yijing (artistic conception) that lingers long after the last character.
- Farewell to Magistrate Qi Departing for Dongyang
- Seeing Off a Friend Exiled to Wuxi
- Seeing Off Marshal Zhao to Hongzhou's Military Secretariat
- Inscribed on Duke Su Xu's Forest Pavilion
- Seeing a Guest Off to Jiangning
- Farewell to Zhang Dan's River Journey Back to Beihai
- The Summit Temple
- <Prelude to Water Melody> Sent to Ziyou on Mid-autumn Festival
- Invitation to Wine
- Question and Answer in the Mountains
- Cold sheet
- Coming Home ( Returning Home )
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