My office has grown cold today;
And I suddenly think of my mountain friend
Gathering firewood down in the valley
Or boiling white stones for potatoes in his hut....
I wish I might take him a cup of wine
To cheer him through the evening storm;
But in fallen leaves that have heaped the bare slopes,
How should I ever find his footprints!
今朝郡斋冷，忽念山中客。
涧底束荆薪，归来煮白石。
欲持一瓢酒，远慰风雨夕。
落叶满空山，何处寻行迹？
Five-character-ancient-verse
Composed during the Dali era of Emperor Daizong's reign while Wei Yingwu served as governor of Chuzhou, this poem was written in his official residence on a cold, stormy morning. The inclement weather stirred memories of a Taoist friend living in seclusion in the Quanjiao Mountains. Centered on longing, the poem uses the bitter cold as a catalyst to imagine the recluse's solitary life while revealing Wei's genuine yearning for mountain solitude beyond worldly bustle.
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.
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