Mooring at Guazhou

Introducion:

Opening with the description of a vast distance over waters and hills away from home, the poem discloses the writer's homesickness on a moonlit night.   

 

Text:

Bó Chuán Guā Zhōu

泊      船       瓜    洲

王维(宋)

 

 Jīng kǒu guā zhōu yì shuǐ jiān， zhōng shān zhǐ gé shù chóng shān。

  京   口  瓜   洲   一   水  间  ， 钟   山   只  隔 数   重  山。

Chūn fēng yòu lǜ  jiāng nán àn，míng yuè hé shí zhào wǒ huán？

  春    风   又  绿  江 南  岸， 明   月  何 时    照    我  还？

 

Mooring at Guazhou

Wang Anshi (Song)

 

Between Guazhou and Jingkou does a river flow,

And away from a few hills lies the Zhongshan Mountain.

Now the vernal breeze makes green the southern shore again,

But when will the silver moon with me homeward go?

 

Comment:

Opening with the description of a vast distance over waters and hills away from home, the poem discloses the writer's homesickness on a moonlit night. He anchors his boat at Guazhou but his home is at Zhongshan, between which stand a few mountains. However, if he resolves to return home, what of it, the few mountains? Then, he shifts from space to time: spring has arrived, greening the trees, grasses and crops along the banks, but when can I go home? By asking the moon the sad question, he expresses his nostalgia and the depths of despair at failure to return home and join his family.