孟郊诗
Poems of Meng Jiao
Index
送崔爽之湖南
Escorting Cui Shuang, who goes to Hunan
|
江与湖相通 二水洗高空 定知一日帆 使得千里风 |
Passing through river and lake alike, Two waters wash this mountain air. Decide to know this one day under sail and This wind which drives us on for leagues. |
|
雪唱与谁和 俗情多不通 何当逸翮纵 飞起泥沙中 |
Sing of this snow and whose harmony Will not see the common thought diminish? How can we escape on rising wings and Fly if we are mired in the mud? |
-- 孟郊
废话
A couple of notes. "Two waters/rivers" (二水) is likely have a significance now lost. It has come to mean "second waters" as in "second-hand goods" -- clearly not appropriate here and possibly only a modern usage. And then "high sky/emptiness" (高空) can mean either the sky far above or mountain air, depending on context. Here it could, in a sense mean both, as Meng Jiao sails and rows his way among the high karst peaks which line the river.