These two love narrative poems reflect the life and feelings of ancient merchant wives in the form of monologues. The whole collection of poems is full of narrative, scene and lyric in one furnace, with vivid images and deep and gentle style.
The whole poem (excerpt) is as follows:
My hair barely covers my forehead. I am picking flowers and paying by my door.
When you, my love, ride a bamboo horse, run in circles and throw your childhood.
We live together in an alley in Changgan, and we are both young and happy.
When I was fourteen, I became your wife, and I was too shy to laugh.
The translation is as follows:
My hair just covered my forehead and I was playing games in front of the door. You came on bamboo horses and chased each other around the bed.
We lived in a long office together, and neither of us had any suspicions since childhood. When I married you at the age of fourteen, I was too ashamed to laugh. He bowed his head in the dark by the wall and dared not look back after repeated calls.
Extended data:
This poem was written by Li Baichu when he visited Jinling in the late autumn of the 13th year of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (725). Chang Gan, a place name, is south of Qinhuai River outside Zhonghua Gate, Qinhuai District, Nanjing. Yuefu was formerly known as Longgan Canal. Volume 72 of Guo Maoqian's Poems of Yuefu contains an ancient poem of five words and four sentences, which tells the story of a girl who sailed to Cailing and was caught in the tide on the way.
The first poem presents a vivid picture to readers through vivid and concrete descriptions of various life stages of business women. Through the use of images, the poet made a typical summary. The first six sentences are like the playful amorous feelings of a group of folk children.
The following eight sentences "I became your wife at the age of fourteen" vividly and delicately describe the newly married life of the little bride after marriage. In the next few poems, the parting sadness of young women in boudoir is described with strong pen and ink, and the poetry has formed a distinct turning point here.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Song of Chang Gan