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.