English Rendering
Every morning a farewell, crying into my hair.
Admiring how spring's last winds shake willows into smoke.
I'm willing for West Mountain to be bare of all its trees,
If it will teach men to do their work far, far from tears.
Admiring Willows
Poetry of Yu Xuanji
《折杨柳》
Original Text (中文原文)
朝朝送别泣花钿，折尽春风杨柳烟。
愿得西山无树木，免教人作泪悬悬。
Meaning & Analysis
This is the last poem we have of Yu Xuanji. It is also one of the last she wrote. "Every morning" is only a "farewell" if you know you will be leaving and not coming back. I think the image of West Mountain's bareness is also an emptiness of death.
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.
- Welcoming Official Li Jinren
- Friend
- A Fairy Tale
- Living in the Mountains in Summer
- Visiting Ezhou
- Sent to Feiqing
- 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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