李冶诗
Poems of Li Ye
Index
八至
Arrivals
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至近至远东西 至深至浅清溪 至高至明日月 至亲至疏夫妻 |
Achieve intimacy, arrive far from mere things. Achieve depth, arrive at the clear, pure source. Achieve height, arrive at intelligent livelihood. Achieve love, arrive at the rarest of marriages. |
-- 李冶
废话
The title of this poem is "Eight Zhis" where zhi4 can mean "achieve" and "arrive" and other things, all of which are awkward if repeated here eight times. Best to maintain original intent. This poem reminds me of those needle-point homilies in frames on your grandmother's wall. Although, it's a bit more deeply scripture-like than those usually are. This could be a poem of Daoist thoughts for someone who asked for help, like the poem she wrote for Cui. And this poem could also be further evidence that, from experience, she understood and treasured marriage.
I was looking at some of the other "versions" of her poems from other scrolls that survived. These versions seem to have variant titles, added preface notes, and identical poems. For example, "Sending Red Blossoms" becomes "Climbing a Mountain to Gaze Waiting for Yan Who Doesn't Come." This change of title tips our view towards seeing her as more oriented towards passing lovers and less toward serious things, lining us up with her Neo-Confucian critics. Most of the changed titles and added preface notes that I have seen have this effect. So either her later puritanical critics left their thumb on the scales when they passed her on to posterity or we have the unlikely possibility of someone making her more respectful than her original titles would have her be.
Keep in mind that there is no evidence from her time of any of these love affairs or loose morals or whatever you want to call it. Like most things as old as these poems, none of this can be proven either way at this point without some serendipitous archeological find. But everything so far points me toward considering Li Ye to be an intelligent, decent, and independent woman who was in the graces of one emperor and got caught out criticising another, who took it personally as most incompetent tyrants will. I find no wild passions running out of control in spite of old Neo-Confucian and modern Chinese assertions of her all but running naked in the streets. Possible early husband aside, her normal human intimacy in her normal human life should remain outside of criticism.