孟郊诗
Poems of Meng Jiao
Index
楚竹吟
Old Hunan Bamboo
（酬卢虔端公见和湘弦怨）
(For Duke Lu Qianduan who sang A Musical Hunan Lament with me.)
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握中有新声 楚竹人未闻 识音者谓谁 清夜吹赠君 |
You firmly grasp the new sound of Old Hunan Bamboo which the people have yet to hear. What do we call those who know this sound? On this clear night, I play it for you. |
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昔为潇湘引 曾动潇湘云 一叫凤改听 再惊鹤失群 |
Once upon a time, along this Hunan river There floated a Hunan river cloud. With a shout, he changed into a phoenix, then Suddenly he was a crane without a flock. |
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江花匪秋落 山日当昼曛 众浊响杂沓 孤清思氛氲 |
In autumn, the river flowers did not fall. The mountain sunlight darkened at midday. The corrupted people cried out in a tumult. Our lonely cloud longed for the spirit of harmony. |
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欲知怨有形 愿向明月分 一掬灵均泪 千年湘水文 |
I almost feel our resentment is tangible. I want to turn to those who are our friends. I weep in sympathy for the good man who chose death. These thousand years this Hunan river has flowed on. |
-- 孟郊
废话
So Meng Jiao was singing the last poem and he wasn't singing alone. Let's make some guesses here. He's in Hunan and still in his wandering years. But he has become known as a poet to the extent that dukes will join him in singing his poetry. So he's at least in his thirties. So Dezong is emperor. He is in his second phase of his reign where he is struggling with rebellious circuit governors and alienating his own generals and troops. So the empire is descending into a mess of strife and factions. What I translate here as "Old Hunan" is the earlier kingdom of that region, Chu (楚) and the Hunan river in both poems is the Xiaoxiang or Xiang, except this Xiang can mean the river or Hunan itself. The man who chose death in both poems is Qu Yuan (aka Ling Jun (灵均) in the poems) whose suicide on the fifth day of the fifth month of 278 BC has long been celebrated as the Dragon Boat Festival. Our cloud who became an phoenix and then a crane could be a Daoist who became an emperor and then lost power during the Chu. But this is just a guess based on the symbolism involved. And without more data, the combinatorics of symbolism will lead us astray. Clearly, Meng Jiao and his duke know who it is.