The willows drooping low, the waters of yearning vast,
The village lonely, far and wide the grass extends.
At sunset apricot flowers fall thick and fast.
Spring over in the south, my heart grief o'er separation rends.
Duckweed all o'er Tingzhou, would he return ere my bloom spends?
波渺渺，柳依依，孤村芳草远，斜日杏花飞。
江南春尽离肠断，蘋满汀洲人未归。
This poem is a lyric poem written by Kou Zhun, a prominent statesman of the Song Dynasty. The first four lines of the poem depict scenery, using the landscape to convey emotion, while the final two lines directly express the theme of lamenting spring and longing for a beloved. With its elegant, graceful, and tenderly sentimental tone, the poem begins with imagery and concludes with emotion, seamlessly blending scene and feeling to subtly convey the poet’s reflections on the passage of time, akin to the fading beauty of youth.
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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