孟郊诗
Poems of Meng Jiao
Index
汝坟蒙从弟楚材见赠时郊将入秦楚材适楚
Your obscure grave, where I saw Chu's talent, written when I made offerings and, returning to Chang'an, realised how fitting your talent was for Chu
朝为主人心 暮为行客吟 汝水忽凄咽 汝风流苦音 |
Morning governed by your masters' hearts. Evening governed by your exiles' moans. Your rivers rush in cold sobs. Your winds flow in bitter voices. |
北阙秦门高 南路楚石深 分泪洒白日 离肠绕青岑 |
Northern palace by Qin's high gates. Southern road through Chu's deep stones. Leaving tears, sprinkled in broad daylight, and Parting emotions wrapped 'round blue hills. |
何以寄远怀 黄鹤能相寻 |
How can I leave these distant feelings Where the yellow crane can find them? |
-- 孟郊
废话
Whose grave? Probably a Chu Kingdom poet's. Not Qu Yuan's -- his grave was a river. Someone associated with a "yellow crane." Yellow Crane Tower, originally built in 223 AD and last rebuilt in 1981, is a famous tower associated with poetry. Its legends have to do with people riding yellow cranes. So what Chu poet was associated with a yellow crane? The answer to this probably has more to do with how the tower was named than either of its crane-riding legends. Everything we think we know is (at least, partially) wrong.