Original text:
Wandering song, wandering song
Tang mengjiao
A thread in the hands of a kind mother? Make clothes for her wayward son.
Before leaving, I had a stitch for fear that my son would come back late and his clothes would be damaged.
Who can say that a filial child like the weak can repay his mother's love like the sunshine in spring?
Translation:
A loving mother makes clothes for her long-distance son with a needle and thread in her hand. Before leaving, he sewed a needle tightly for fear that his son would come back late and his clothes would be damaged. Who can say that a child's filial piety as weak as grass can repay the kindness of such a loving mother as Chunhui Puze?
Creative background:
Meng Jiao drifted in his early years and was poor all his life. It was not until he was fifty years old that he got a humble position as a county commandant in Liyang, ending his years of wandering life and living with his mother. This poem was written at this time. Naturally, the poet didn't take such a small official to heart, and he still only looked at the scenery and sang hymns, but no one asked about his official duties. The county magistrate only gave him half a salary. Under this heading, the author notes that "Mu Ying Li Shang Zuo" is his work when he lived in Liyang. In the poem, an ordinary and great beauty of human nature, maternal love, is sung affectionately and truly, which has aroused the admiration of countless readers and won popularity for thousands of years.
The poet was frustrated in his career and suffered from the indifference of the world. At this time, he felt the value of his family more and more, so he wrote this heartfelt and touching poem praising his mother. The affection of loving mother is shown in trivial life. I was worried that my son would not be able to go home for a long time, so I sewed a stitch and a thread, carefully and densely, and sewed love and care on the clothes of the wanderer.
Appreciation of works:
This is an ode to maternal love. The poet, frustrated in his official career, experienced a cold world and a sad life, so he felt the value of family more and more. "Poetry is born from the heart, and sorrow should be the heart" (Su Shi's Reading Meng Jiao's Poems). Although this poem is not carved with algae paintings, it is fresh, smooth and unpretentious, which shows that its poetic flavor is rich and mellow.
This poem artistically reproduces the ordinary and great beauty of human nature that people feel, so it has won strong praise from countless readers for thousands of years. Until the Qing Dynasty, two poets in Liyang sang such a poem: "My father's books are full of laundry, and the bus is full of me" (Shi Qisheng's "Writing about my bosom"), "How many tears I always shed, dyed my hands and sewed clothes" (Peng Gui's "Visiting my mother for the first time"), which shows that this poem left a deep impression on future generations.