Today I would like to share a famous ancient Chinese poem written by 元稹/Yuan Zhen. Being an excellent poet in Tang Dynasty, he was on a par with his best friend Bai Juyi, so they were together called '元白/Yuan Bai' in history.
Now let's enjoy it!
离思
(唐• 元稹）
曾经沧海难为水，
除却巫山不是云。
取次花丛懒回顾，
半缘修道半缘君。
Of which there is a perfect antithesis in the first pair of sentences, such as沧海/the wide sea matches 巫山/Mountain Wu, 水/water matches 云/cloud. And they have become a famous quotation in Chinese literature, symbolizing the unforgettable deep love.
云/Yun(cloud) in the second sentence rhymes with 君/Jun(thee) in the last one.
In Memory of the Departed
Yuan Zhen (Tang Dynasty)
(Its translator is unknown)
Having once been to the sea, no other waters would one seek;
If not on Mount Wu, nowhere could a worthy cloud be.
Nevermore will I turn my head to appreciate the flowers,
Partly to cultivate my mind, but partly for thee.
Here the departed means the author's late wife named 韦丛/Wei Cong, from a wealthy official family who stuck faithfully by him through thick and thin. And Mount Wu, situated in Si Chuan's province, is noted for its fascinating cloud. It is said that on Mount Wu there is a Goddess and the cloud there is the incarnation of her.
The other version of its English translation is from the same Professor Xu Yuan Chong.
Think of My Dear Wife
No water's enough when you have crossed the sea；
No cloud is beautiful but that which crowns the peak.
I pass by flowers that fail to attract poor me；
Half for your sake and half for Taoism I seek.
It is well-known that his English translation is characteristic of rhyming. We can find 'see' rhymes with 'me'; 'peak' rhymes with 'seek'.
I just leave you to decide which version is better. Maybe I prefer the first one since I feel it expresses that kind of melancoly feeling of losing the beloved more directly and vividly. However, for people who pays attention to the rhyming of poem, no doubt the second version is wonderful.
Someone says that John Denver’s lyrics resound the kind of love in plain detail: “You fill up my senses, like the night in the forest, like the mountain in springtime, like a walk in the rain, like the storm in the desert, like the blue sleepy ocean. You fill up my senses, come fill me again!” I couldn't agree more.
At the same time, I wanna post a poem about a sealed love story I wrote a few years ago here.
I love the sentence:
"Our memory is a more perfect world than the universe: it gives back life to those who no longer exist.”
by Guy de Maupassant,
which I read from this blog at the first time.
It is absolutely right: our memory can give back life to those who no longer exist.
Especially when our memory is transformed into a beautiful classical poem, the true love will never die.
Below is my original poem:
记忆锦盒
A brocade box of memory
把你的一切锁进记忆的锦盒
I locked all of you into a brocade box of memory
再裹上厚厚的红丝绒
Then wrapped it with the thick red velvet
如同尘封一坛女儿红
As if sealing a pot of yellow wine
(According to Chinese custom, the family would seal and preserve a pot of yellow wine when daughter was born. The wine keeps intact until the daughter gets married.)
交给岁月，交给时光
Hand it over to the years and it is all about time
会是哪位幸运的诗人打开锦盒？
Which lucky and kind poet will there be to open this brocade box?
惊喜地发现那口被深埋的爱之井
依然鲜活如初
To his surprise, he finds the well of love being deeply buried so long is still vivid as in the beginning
且愈加香醇
And more aromatic and purer
Thanks for watching! I'll see you over in the next episode of Ancient Chinese poetry.
P.S. : I highly recommend you read the blog about memory from @raj808 and my comments on it. Welcome to Click here!
A really interesting reflection on memory, and how memory often provides a more perfect picture of a time than the actual reality of living that moment. I guess this is just a mechanism of the subconscious, the mind paints memory with our expectations and hopes around a person, or place, of the past.
You touch on this effusive aspect of memory well in your poem in the lines below.
Those lines express the idea of the 'rose tinted glasses' of memory, that I've written about in the past.
I also enjoyed the translations of the poem by Yuan Zhen.
Thanks for sharing @kaixin
And thank you for referencing my blog 🙂
The main idea I want to express in my poem is that the feeling of true love can't disappear or be ruined as time goes by, just like Yuanzhen's poem saying “曾经沧海难为水，除却巫山不是云”.
On the contrary, the feeling of true love and time, to be buried together constantly fermenting, can not stop, along with the yeast of memory in the bottom of lover's heart, or the 'rose tinted glasses' of memory(just quote your words), in consequence, it becomes a bucket of vintage wine. But only the poet who finds it by chance, like a connoisseur good at tasting wine can nimbly realize that how it carries an earthshaking sweet-bitter love story.
What a coincidence! When I wrote this poem, I never thought someday a real poet will read it although I hope so. I just want to make a riddling poem... I am so happy that you call it as 'effusive aspect of memory'. Thank you for your great comments so much!!!
Yeah, this ancient Chinese poem from Yuan Zhen is honored to be a classcial love poem, especially the first 2 sentences. And there is also a beautiful legend about Mount Wu Goddness who turns into cloud in the morning, and rain in the evening. The legend has it that Chu king(during Spring-autumn Warring period ) once had a dream, where he had sexual intercourse with a fairy who claimed that she was Mount Wu Goddness. Surprisedly, when he woke up, he could still smell the scent of fairy left in the room. My God, was it imagined or real？Hence in Chinese literature巫山云雨/ Mount Wu’s clouds and rain means "consummation", a very romantic/posh wording.