English Rendering
I play my flute, nearing the furthest shore;
At sunset I bid my lord farewell.
On the lake I turn my head once more —
Green hills fold white clouds where they dwell.
The Lake Qi
- Poetry of Wang Wei
《欹湖》Original Text (中文原文)
吹箫凌极浦，日暮送夫君。
湖上一回首，青山卷白云。
Meaning & Analysis
This poem is the eighth of Wang Wei's twenty-poem Wang River Collection, composed in harmony with a poem by his friend Pei Di. Although situated within a series of landscape poems, it ingeniously incorporates the motif of "farewell," demonstrating how Wang Wei seamlessly dissolves personal feelings of parting into the eternal tranquility of the Wang River landscape. It is not a direct, heartfelt farewell but a transcendent, cinematic tableau of parting composed of sound, twilight, and a backward glance.
Related Themes
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.
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