孟郊诗

Poems of Meng Jiao


Index

送柳淳

Escorting Simple Liu


青山临黄河
下有长安道
世上名利人
相逢不知老

Blue mountains overlook Yellow River.
Below lies the Chang'an road.
In this world, men of fame and gain
Meet and part and remain unchanged.

-- 孟郊


废话

I'm going a bit out on a limb with the title. 淳 means "simple," in the way Prince Mishkin or Natty Bumpo are simple. Not sure anyone would name their son that. I guess they might. So Meng Jiao is escorting Simple Liu and probably getting along with him just fine. And Meng muses about the contrast between Liu and successful, worldly men. The final line is more literally "meet each other by accident, do not realize experience." For Meng Jiao, life is change and change is good. Meng Jiao's final thoughts may have been Wittgenstein's: "Tell everyone I've had a wonderful life."


Index