English Rendering
A lone banner dissolves into the world's rim,
Flower-blind gardens mock spring's hymn.
Only tavern drunks still trade in coins,
Their folk songs graffiti the sunset's loins.
Cold Food Festival
- Poetry of Zeng Gong
《寒食》Original Text (中文原文)
一麾飘泊在天涯，寒食园林不见花。
唯有市亭酤酒客，俚歌声到日西斜。
Analysis & Context
Composed during Emperor Shenzong's reign when Zeng Gong was serving away from his homeland, this poem reflects on the Cold Food Festival (寒食节) - an important traditional occasion originally marked by fire prohibition, cold meals, and ancestral tomb-sweeping that later evolved into a spring outing celebration. Stranded in a foreign land, unable to reunite with family or participate in customary rituals, the poet conveys profound loneliness and displacement through this seasonal meditation.
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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- Invitation to Wine
- Question and Answer in the Mountains
- Cold sheet
- Coming Home ( Returning Home )
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