Member Poem

Climbing the Bird Watch

 
Wang Zhihuan (688-742)
 
 
The white sun sets beyond the mountain line,
The Yellow River joins the ocean’s flow—
If poor but want a thousand-mile view,
Ascend a flight of stairs and it will show.
 
 

 
 
Transliteration and Notes
 
Scale Crane Sparrow Building
 
White sun sets-in mountain limit
Yellow River enters sea flow
Desire poor thousand mile view
Another go-up one story building
 
     “White sun” means daytime or just “sun.” Note that the Chinese “mile” or “li” is about 0.31 American miles, so a “thousand miles” is about 310 American miles or 500 kilometers. This measure has varied over time, but figuratively, it just means “a great distance.”
     This poem makes the simple observation that you do not need to be rich to enjoy a great view: just climb a tall building. Note the parallelism in the poem, which was an attractive quality in Chinese poetry: the “white sun” vs. the “Yellow River,” the “mountain line” vs. the “ocean’s flow,” and the “thousand-mile view” vs. the building he’s watching it from.