On the River
Introducion:
This is a poem describing a landscape but expressing a philosophical concept derived from life experience.
Text:
Jiānɡshànɡ
江上
(宋)王安石
jiāng běi qiū yīn yí bàn kāi
江 北 秋 阴 一 半 开,
wǎn yún hán yǔ què dī huái
晚 云 含 雨 却 低 徊。
qīng shān liáo rào yí wú lù
青 山 缭 绕 疑无 路,
hū jiàn qiān fān yǐn yìng lái
忽 见 千 帆 隐 映 来。
On the River
Wang Anshi (Song)
Over the northern shore hangs the gloomy sky half bare,
And hover low the rain-imbued clouds of twilight.
The tortuous mountain ranges seem to meander nowhere,
When a thousand sails appear dimly in distant sight.
Comment
This is a poem describing a landscape but expressing a philosophical concept derived from life experience. The overcast sky threatens to rain; the clouds hang low filled with moisture; the undulating maintain ranges meander far beyond the edge of the earth and no way were lying ahead, but all of a sudden a thousand sails come into view and a road is to be dimly seen ahead.