I am a free old man1, using the rice from public fields to make wine, for in my leisure I often carry wine to the lake and become intoxicated. Happily drunk on the lakeside shore, I extend my arm toward the stone fish1, sending a boat there to fetch drinks for the people sitting and drinking around. I feel as if I were leaning on Baqiu Hill, drinking wine above Sovereign Mountain2 while the sages sit, encircling Dongting Lake, drinking boats floating around, stirred by the great waves, and people going back and forth. To savor this, I wrote this song.
Notes
1 “Free Old Man,” or Man Sou, is the poet’s alias. He refers to himself here.
2 The “stone fish” was a boulder in the middle of the lake carved out to store wine. People would send boats to take the wine and bring it back to drink.
3 Sovereign Mountain is in the middle of Dongting Lake, the second largest lake in China. Legend has it that wine from the top of Sovereign Mountain would enable to drinker to live forever. Baqiu Hill is a mountain near Dongting Lake.
Translation
Yuan Jie (719-772) | 元結 |
Drunk on Stone Fish Lake (with preface) | 石魚湖上醉歌 并序 |
Stone Fish Lake, | 石魚湖 |
like Dongting Lake, | 似洞庭 |
now fills with summer waters, green as Sovereign Mountain. | 夏水欲滿 君山青 |
The mountain’s a goblet of wine, | 山為樽 |
the water is the liquid, | 水為沼 |
and disciples of wine sit one-by-one, like island birds. | 酒徒歷歷 坐洲鳥 |
Long winds, day-after-day, create these surging waves, | 長風連日 作大浪 |
But cannot stop the men from taking the wine in boats. | 不能廢人 運酒舫 |
I hold a lengthy ladle, sitting on Baqiu hill, | 我持長瓢 坐巴丘 |
pouring wine and drinking all around as we release our worries. | 酌飲四座 以散愁 |
Commentary
Yuan Jie used to be the governor of Daozhou (south of Hu’nan), where he wrote a series of poems to eulogize Stone Fish Lake. In this poem, he is imagining the small lake with a boulder in the middle as if it were Dongting Lake, the second largest lake in China, with a mountain in the middle. He celebrates a life of leisure, drinking with friends at ease, and escaping from the stress of official duties.
Original Chinese
Traditional | Simplified | Pronunciation |
元結 | 元结 | Yuán jié |
石魚湖上醉歌并序 | 石鱼湖上醉歌并序 | Shí yú hú shàng zuì gē bìng xù |
石魚湖， | 石鱼湖， | Shí yú hú, |
似洞庭， | 似洞庭， | Shì dòng tíng, |
夏水欲滿君山青。 | 夏水欲满君山青。 | Xià shuǐ yù mǎn jūn shān qīng. |
山為樽， | 山为樽， | Shān wèi zūn, |
水為沼， | 水为沼， | Shuǐ wèi zhǎo, |
酒徒歷歷坐洲鳥。 | 酒徒历历坐洲鸟。 | Jiǔ tú lì lì zuò zhōu niǎo. |
長風連日作大浪， | 长风连日作大浪， | Cháng fēng lián rì zuò dà làng, |
不能廢人運酒舫。 | 不能废人运酒舫。 | Bù néng fèi rén yùn jiǔ fǎng. |
我持長瓢坐巴丘， | 我持长瓢坐巴丘， | Wǒ chí cháng piáo zuò bā qiū, |
酌飲四座以散愁。 | 酌饮四座以散愁。 | Zhuó yǐn sì zuò yǐ sàn chóu. |
Translation Notes
元結 | Primary Knot [Yuan Jie (719-772)] |
石魚湖上醉歌并序 | Stone Fish Lake on drunk song with preface [Stone Fish Lake= a lake in Hu’nan.] |
石魚湖， | Stone Fish Lake |
似洞庭， | Like Cave Garden [Cave Garden= Dongting Lake, in Hu’nan] |
夏水欲滿君山青。 | Summer water wants-to fill-up Jun/Sovereign Shan/Mountain green |
山為樽， | Mountain as wine-goblet |
水為沼， | Water as lake/pond |
酒徒歷歷坐洲鳥。 | Wine disciples take-place take-place sit island bird [Wine disciple = people who like drinking, drunkards] [Take-place take-place = one after the other] |
長風連日作大浪， | Long wind continuous days creates big waves [Long wind = big wind] [Continuous days = day after day] [Big waves = billows, surges] |
不能廢人運酒舫。 | Not able-to stop men transporting wine boat [Not able-to = cannot] |
我持長瓢坐巴丘， | I hold long ladle sit Ba-State/greatly-desire hill [Ba-State = in Zhou Dynasty, in east Sichuan or Chongqing area.] |
酌飲四座以散愁。 | Pour-wine drink four seats thereby release worry [four seats= idiom, people sitting around] |
Year:
2013
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