"Langtaosha? The eighth "
Mo Tao's slanderers are as deep as waves, and Mo Yan's guests are as heavy as sand.
Although it is hard, it is difficult to blow out crazy sand when it is not golden.
Translation and annotation
translate
Don't say that slanders are like stormy waves, and don't say that people who have been demoted are buried underwater like mud.
After thousands of times of filtration and hardships, we can finally wash out all the sediment and get glittering gold.
To annotate ...
Slander: slander.
Transfer: an official who has been demoted and transferred to a remote place.
Infiltration: Water slowly permeates downward.
Creation background
Since the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, the momentum has declined. Governors are independent, eunuchs are authoritarian. When talented people are released and angered, resentful works are produced. After Liu Yuxi was transferred from Beijing official to local official, he also wrote famous works, such as Nine Poems of Langtaosha. This group of poems should be Liu Yuxi's later works, not created at one time and one place. According to the Yellow River, Luoshui, Bianshui, Qinghuai, Nautilus Island, Zhuo Jinjiang, etc. Poems, or works for activities in Kuizhou, Hezhou and Luoyang, were later compiled into a group. Some scholars believe that this group of poems was written in the late Kuizhou period, that is, in the spring of the second year of Changqing (AD 822). This poem is the eighth in a series.
The meaning of this poem is not to say that gossip is as unfathomable and inextricable as stormy waves, nor does it mean that people who are relegated are always addicted to decadence like mud. After thousands of times of filtration, various hardships and unremitting efforts, gold panning will always wash away the sediment and get shiny gold.
"Mo Tao's rumors are as deep as waves, and Mo Yan's guests are as heavy as sand." In these two poems, the poet shows in a firm tone that it is not inevitable that slanderers are "as deep as waves" and "as heavy as sand". In other words, even if the rumors are as deep as waves, they may not be "sand-heavy" to attract guests. Not all people will sink to the bottom of the river like sediment when they are unfairly treated by adversity, but some people will work hard.
"Although it is difficult, it is difficult to blow up the yellow sand before it reaches the gold." The literal meaning of these two poems seems to be that people who write about gold panning have to go through "thousands of times" and filter out all the sediment before they can get gold, which is about the hardships of gold panning people. However, in this poem, the poet tries to express his thoughts. Although the slanderers framed him, those innocent and upright loyal ministers suffered injustice, were dismissed from office, demoted, expelled from the court and relegated to other places, but they would not sink into reality and would not change their original intentions. After suffering, we still have to clear our grievances.
Liu Yuxi (772-842), a writer and philosopher in the Tang Dynasty, was born in Luoyang. He calls himself a "Luoyang native" and was born in Zhongshan. The first one is Zhongshan, Wang Jing and Liu Sheng. Known as the "poet".
Liu Yuxi was a scholar in the ninth year of Zhenyuan (793). At the beginning, he was a clerk in Du You's shogunate and an envoy in Huainan, and was highly valued by Du You. Later, he entered the DPRK from Du You, supervising the empire. At the end of Zhenyuan, he made friends with Liu Zongyuan, Han Ye and formed a political group headed by Wang. Later, he successively served as Sima Langzhou, Secretariat of Lianzhou, Secretariat of Kuizhou, Secretariat of Hezhou, Doctor of Host and Guest, Minister of Rites, and Secretariat of Suzhou. In Huichang, we will check the history of the Ministry of Justice. He died at the age of 70 and gave it to the Minister of Housing.