1. Version:
There are two versions of this poem. One is the Five Dynasties Shu version reprinted in the Song Dynasty. The second is the 18th poem in Volume 168 of the Jinling edition of "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty" from the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty engraved version records as follows:
The general is heroic and majestic, and he used to hold the silver platform to protect Ziwei.
At dawn, he goes to the sky with his sword, and at dusk, he returns drunk with his whip.
The beloved son plays the jade flute in the wind, and the beauty dances in her robes to the moon.
When we meet today, we all lose our way. In what year will we be able to see the spring light in Bashang?
2. Basis for appreciation:
Because the Five Dynasties were relatively close to the Tang Dynasty where Li Bai lived, while the Qing Dynasty was relatively far away from the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, when I annotated and translated this poem, I took the Five Dynasties Shu edition as the standard.
3. Notes:
Wuwei: Liangzhou in the Tang Dynasty, today's Gansu region.
Yintai: It is one of the names of the palace gates of the imperial palace in the Tang Dynasty. The Hanlin Academy and the Academy of Sciences were both located within the Yintai Gate. Han Xie of the Tang Dynasty wrote a poem "Sitting in the Jade Hall in the Moonlight After the Rain": "Yintai is directly north of Jinluan." It can be seen that the Yintai Gate is where Hanlin bachelors work.
Ziwei: Ziwei star is also called the North Star. The ancients believed that the North Star was the emperor star. It is used here as a metaphor for the emperor.
Pingming: At dawn, Lu Lun of the Tang Dynasty's poem "Song Xia Song No. 2": "In Pingming, I look for white feathers, but they are lost in the stone edges."
Linfeng: Describes a person like a jade tree. Just as elegant and graceful. From "Shishuo Xinyu. Rong Zhi", Yushu Linfeng is often used to describe a handsome man.
Past: before, past, days ago. "Book of Rites. Tan Gong": "On the night of the past, I dreamed of sitting between two couplets."
Chunhui: spring light. Li Bai once wrote in "Cherishing the Remaining Spring": "Seeing the crossroads of gossamer, netting the spring light to retain people."
4. Vernacular translation:
General Guo, what did you learn from when you were a boy? Gansu (one of the main battlefields where the Tang Dynasty army fought against Turks, Uighurs, Tubo, Tuyuhun and other ethnic minorities) became prosperous, and now he was promoted to Yintaimen to assume the important task of guarding the emperor (these two sentences mainly praise General Guo for not only his meritorious service) Outstanding and powerful, deeply trusted and favored by the emperor).
You clean your sword and go to court in the morning, and go home drunk at night with your whip hanging down (these two sentences are mainly to praise General Guo for his smooth work and comfortable life).
Your beloved son Yushu is playing the jade flute gracefully in the wind, and your concubine is dancing to the moon (these two sentences are mainly to praise General Guo. Not only is his son handsome, but his concubine is even more beautiful. In the Tang Dynasty, it was common for officials to have three wives and four concubines).
The heroic deeds in the past are like a dream (let’s put them aside for now). Since we met today, we might as well drink our fill in this beautiful spring! (It shows Li Bai's heroic and straightforward character as well as the romanticism always contained in his poems).