In summer and autumn, in the water town of Jiangnan, the sun is warm and the flowers are fragrant. Lotus flowers are in full bloom. The heroine collects bright lotus flowers and fragrant orchids on the bank of the river. The poem is written in a happy and joyful atmosphere. Words such as hibiscus, orchid, and grass decorate the picture with splendor, making people feel that the protagonist is elegant and in a happy mood.
Who should I give the flowers to? The sweetheart I long for is far away. These two sentences of self-question and answer show a sudden change of emotion, from joy to sorrow, and enthusiasm is splashed by a basin of cold water. In an instant, the color of the sky and the earth changes, the grass and trees feel sad for it, and the infinite desolation and loneliness in my heart. Sad and disappointed. This is a deep question and a helpless sigh.
The reader seems to see the male protagonist standing alone, sad and melancholy on the roadside, looking in vain towards his hometown. The road he sees is long, vast and endless. Where is your hometown? Where is the person you are thinking about? The other protagonist in the poem, a wanderer in a foreign land, is in extreme emotional pain.
Plucking hibiscus across the river
Anonymous [Han Dynasty]
Picking hibiscus across the river, there are many fragrant grasses in the orchids.
Who do you want to leave behind? What you are thinking about is far away.
I still look back at my old hometown, the long road is long and vast.
We share the same heart but live apart, and we end up in sorrow.
Translation
I walked across the river to pick lotus flowers, and the orchid-growing lakes were covered with vanilla.
Who should I give the lotus flowers to? I want to give them to my lover far away.
Looking back at the hometown where we lived together, we can see the endless road in the distance.
Two hearts love each other, but they have to be separated in two places and cannot be together. They are sad and sad and even end up in a foreign land.
Notes
Hibiscus: Another name for lotus.
Lanze: a swamp with bluegrass.
Wèi: gift.
Far away: Still talking about "far away".
Look back: look back.
Jiuxiang: hometown.