Heiweipai
Author: Liu Yuxi
There are some weeds blooming by the Suzaku Bridge, and there is only sunset at the corner of Wuyi Lane.
Swallows under the eaves of Wang Dao and Xie An have now flown into the homes of ordinary people.
Vernacular translation
The Suzaku Bridge is covered with overgrown weeds and small wild flowers. Broken wall, Wuyi alley, is the sunset.
Swallows that once built their nests in front of Xie Wang Hall now fly into the homes of ordinary people.
Extended data
This poem praises the prosperity of Zhuque Bridge on Qinhuai River in Nanjing and Wuyi Lane on the south bank in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but now it is overgrown with weeds and desolate, with a sense of vicissitudes.
It is a common phenomenon that the author chooses the host family where Swallow lives, which is no longer the master of the old days. It makes people realize that wealth and splendor are hard to maintain, and those high-ranking officials and nobles who once enjoyed the scenery are a thing of the past. There is not a comment in the poem, but through the description of weeds and sunset, taking swallows as witnesses of ups and downs, it skillfully links history with reality and guides people to think about the development of the times and the changes of society, which contains profound implications. Although the whole poem is extremely shallow, it is full of flavor.