Translation
Dai Shulun (732-789) | 戴叔倫 |
A Chance Encounter at a Traveler’s Inn: An Old Friend from My Hometown | 江鄉故人 偶集客舍 |
Autumn sky, the moon is full | 天秋 月又滿 |
As night surrounds the capital’s towers. | 城闕 夜千重 |
By chance I encounter someone from the Southern Rivers, | 還作 江南會 |
And upside-down, I feel we meet inside a dream. | 翻疑 夢裡逢 |
Wind-blown branches startle the darkened crows | 風枝 驚暗鵲 |
And dew covers the grass and crickets cold. | 露草 覆寒蟲 |
Travelers long in a foreign land, a time for getting drunk; | 羈旅 長堪醉 |
We dread the morning bell that will end our stay together. | 相留 畏曉鐘 |
Commentary
When Dai Shulun stayed in Chang’an, the capital city, he accidentally met an old friend from his hometown. He wrote this poem to express his excitement about this reunion and his longing for hometown. This was such a pleasant surprise to meet a familiar person in a far off land that he felt turned "upside-down" to land inside inside a dream.
He describes an autumn night with a full moon, a time the darkness covers the Palace’s myriad watchtowers. The enveloping darkness covering the multitude of watchtowers could be viewed as symbolic of the loneliness an outsider would feel amid the hustle and bustle of a great capital city. Likewise with the scenic description of the wind startling crows and cold dew covering the grass and crickets. The poet and his friend went to drink and talk, sad that their reunion would have to end when the night was over.
Original Chinese
Traditional | Simplified | Pronunciation |
戴叔倫 | 戴叔伦 | Dài Shūlún |
江鄉故人偶集客舍 | 江乡故人偶集客舍 | Jiāng xiāng gù rén ǒu jí kè shè |
天秋月又滿， | 天秋月又满， | Tiān qiū yuè yòu mǎn， |
城闕夜千重。 | 城阙夜千重。 | Chéng què yè qiān zhòng。 |
還作江南會， | 还作江南会, | Huán zuò jiāng nán huì， |
翻疑夢裡逢。 | 翻疑梦里逢。 | Fān yí mèng lǐ féng。 |
風枝驚暗鵲， | 风枝惊暗鹊， | Fēng zhī jīng àn què， |
露草覆寒蟲。 | 露草覆寒虫。 | Lù cǎo fù hán qióng。 |
羈旅長堪醉， | 羁旅长堪醉， | Jī lǚ cháng kān zuì， |
相留畏曉鐘。 | 相留畏晓钟。 | Xiāng liú wèi xiǎo zhōng。 |
Literal Notes
戴叔倫 | Wear/respect/bear Uncle Human-relationship [=Dai Shulun (732-789)] |
江鄉故人偶集客舍 | River hometown/home-village ancient/old person accidentally assemble traveler house [Dai Shulun’s hometown is Jintan county, and he also had resided in Jiangxi province after the An-Shi Rebellion. Both of these places are in the south of China and have a lot of rivers, so Dai called them “river hometown.”], [ancient person = old friend], [accidentally = by chance], [traveler house = inn] |
天秋月又滿， | Heaven/sky autumn moon and full/satisfied |
城闕夜千重。 | City/town imperial-city-watch-tower night thousand repeats [City imperial-city-watch-tower = originally meant the watch tower on either side of a city gate; it also has extended meanings, namely imperial palace, or capital of a country. Here it refers to the capital of the Tang Dynasty, Chang’an.], [thousand repeats = the magnificent palace in Chang’an has thousands of doors.] |
還作江南會， | Still-in-progress/return make/compose/feel river south meet-together |
翻疑夢裡逢。 | Flip-over/overturn suspect dream inside/internal come-upon/happen-to-meet [Dai Shulun was in Chang’an when he wrote this poem. Meeting an old friend from his hometown (which is very far from Chang’an) was such a surprise that Dai wondered whether this reunion happened in a dream.] |
風枝驚暗鵲， | Wind branches/limbs frighten/startle in-the-dark/gloomy/hidden crows [Note: this line means the wind shakes tree branches, and it startles the crows. Most annotators hold that this line also has an implied meaning. Cao Cao (155-220AD) had written a very famous poem named “Travel Ballad” (短歌行). In that poem there are such verses: “The moon is bright and the stars are few / the magies fly to the south. / They fly around the trees, / but on what branch can they lean?” (original Chinese: 月明星稀，烏鵲南飛。繞樹三匝，何枝可依？). So Dai Shulun may use this allusion to express missing his hometown.] |
露草覆寒蟲。 | Dew grass cover cold worms/insects [This line means crickets chirp in the grass damped by cold dew.] |
羈旅長堪醉， | Halter/restrain trip/journey long adequately-capable-of/worthy-of/suitable/fit/endure intoxicated/drunk [Halter trip = stay long in a strange place, to be a traveler, to live abroad] |
相留畏曉鐘。 | Each-other stop/halt fear/dread daybreak bell [Fear daybreak bell = fear time passes too fast and they will separate again.] |
Year:
2012
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