Waves Sifting Sand I
- Poetry of Liu Yuxi
The nine-bend Yellow River rolls with sand from miles away;
Waves sift it, winds winnow it, from the end of the world, they say.
Now, straight up to the Silver River we could sail, I deem;
And reach the home of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maid, in dream.
This poem was composed during Liu Yuxi's exile in Langzhou (present-day Changde, Hunan Province) and stands as the first in a series. To grasp the poem's deeper significance, one must return to the pivotal moment that irrevocably altered the trajectory of his life—the first year of the Yongzhen era (805 AD). That year, the thirty-four-year-old Liu Yuxi, in the prime of his life, joined forces with figures like Liu Zongyuan and Wang Shuwen in a bold and ambitious reform movement, aiming to eradicate entrenched evils such as eunuch dominance and separatist military governorships. However, the reforms collapsed after barely over a hundred days. Eunuchs counterattacked, forcing Emperor Shunzong to abdicate in favor of his heir. The reformers were either executed or exiled. Liu Yuxi was initially demoted to the post of Prefect of Lianzhou, and on his journey there, was further demoted to the role of Marshal of Langzhou. Overnight, he plummeted from a brilliant, high-spirited rising star at court to a disgraced official relegated to a remote and obscure corner of the empire.
九曲黄河万里沙，浪淘风簸自天涯。
如今直上银河去，同到牵牛织女家。
- Why Chinese poems is so special?
- The most distinctive features of Chinese poetry are: concision- many poems are only four lines, and few are much longer than eight; ambiguity- number, tense and parts of speech are often undetermined, creating particularly rich interpretative possibilities; and structure- most poems follow quite strict formal patterns which have beauty in themselves as well as highlighting meaningful contrasts.
- How to read a Chinese poem?
- Like an English poem, but more so. Everything is there for a reason, so try to find that reason. Think about all the possible connotations, and be aware of the different possibilities of number and tense. Look for contrasts: within lines, between the lines of each couplet and between successive couplets. Above all, don't worry about what the poet meant- find your meaning.