孟郊诗

Poems of Meng Jiao


Index

送李翱习之

An Exercise in Escorting Li Ao


习之势翩翩
东南去遥遥
赠君双履足
一为上皋桥

The practitioner's strength is elegant
As he leaves for the far southeast.
I gift you two trustworthy shoes
To see you over High Bridge.

皋桥路逶迤
碧水清风飘
新秋折藕花
应对吴语娇

High Bridge road meanders.
On blue waters, you float on fresh breezes.
Early fall, you pick lotus blossoms
Which respond delicately in Wu.

千巷分渌波
四门生早潮
湖榜轻袅袅
酒旗高寥寥

A thousand paths crisscross the clear waters.
In every direction surges the grassy tide.
You will row with graceful ease upon the lakes.
But the wineshops are regretably rare.

小时屐齿痕
有处应未销
旧忆如雾星
怳见于梦消

Shortly, your clogs will wear blisters
And in places you will almost disappear.
Old memories will rise like misty stars
And mad visions will appear in your dreams.

言之烧人心
事去不可招
独孤宅前曲
箜篌醉中谣

As a writer who sets hearts on fire,
I really shouldn't be teasing you.
In a lonely home along a river,
You'll play your harp, get drunk, and sing.

壮年俱悠悠
逮兹各焦焦
执手复执手
唯道无枯凋

Our best years are all far behind us
And here, we're all concerned for you.
I grasp your hand again and again
As the only way to see this through.

-- 孟郊


废话

Li Ao is a friend of Han Yu who also promotes the practice of old-style writing (古文之习). He has been sent (banished?) to the far southeast marshes where the people are Wu and not Han. The High Bridge road is best translated as "the least wet path through the great marshes." And road is a euphemism if you have to wear mud clogs when you're not using a boat.

The poem is Meng Jiao's attempt to lighten Li's heart before he goes. Lots of puns here of which I can only give you one slice in the above translation. The harp Li takes with him is an ancient-style konghuang. The waters will be anything but clear. The wineshops will be non-existent. Both Meng and Li know that this trip is no joke. The final line is really "Only way without withering." But he survives this journey.

We know this because Li Ao wrote the "Record of Coming South" ( 来南录) which is one of mankind's earliest diaries. Li Ao made this trip, with his pregnant wife, from Luoyang to Guangzhou, in 809-810. The journey, passing through the modern provinces of Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Guangdong, took over nine months.


Index