A man is rootless in his day,
Floating like dust along the way.
Blown east and west, no longer am I
Still the same as in days gone by.
When born, I may be called your brother,
why then should we not love each other?
Let us enjoy when days are fine,
Call neighbors out to drink our wine!
The prime of our life won’t come twice;
Each day can’t have two mornings nice.
I urge you to rise with the sun,
For time and tide will wait for none.
人生无根蒂，飘如陌上尘。
分散逐风转，此已非常身。
落地为兄弟，何必骨肉亲！
得欢当作乐，斗酒聚比邻。
盛年不重来，一日难再晨。
及时当勉励，岁月不待人。
Composed in 414 CE when Tao Yuanming was fifty years old and had lived eight years in rural seclusion, this poem reflects the poet's philosophical maturity forged through national upheavals and career disappointments. Blending Confucian activism with Daoist naturalism, Tao developed a unique worldview that embraced both soaring ambition ("aspirations reaching beyond the four seas") and recluse's devotion ("my nature loves hills and mountains"). The poem confronts life's impermanence with enlightened equanimity, demonstrating the poet's clear-eyed awareness of mortality while advocating the carpe diem philosophy - urging readers to cherish fleeting time through mindful enjoyment.
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.
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.
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