薛涛诗
Poems of Xue Tao
Index
送郑眉州
Seeing Off Zheng Meizhou
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雨暗眉山江水流 离人掩袂立高楼 双旌千骑骈东陌 独有罗敷望上头 |
Rainy darkness, Eyebrow Mountain, river runs below. At parting, we draw apart, standing on this tower. Beneath twin banners, cavalry in twin files riding east. Although alone, you have a wife to gaze down on. |
-- 薛涛
废话
This could be Xue Tao and a night's client parting in a tower in Chengdu. Or it could be her parting from a lover after Wei Gao. Or during Wei Gao, for all we know. There is nothing to indicate that Xue Tao and Wei Gao were an item. It is as likely that he was a high officer and she was an adornment of his office. Whoever this is in the poem, he's married. And the way she puts the married bit, I sense a little envy or bitterness in Xue Tao. She might like to have someone permanent too. And in the background, the wars and dying go on.
As an aside, Zheng's name and the name of Li in the next poem make no sense to me as names. It appears their names are Surname SomePrefecture. So maybe this is a sign of slight familiarity, to call someone Fan Hangzhou (Fan from Hangzhou) in the way you might once have called someone California Slim.