The poem is: Spring silkworms will not run out of silk until they die, and wax torches will turn to ashes before their tears dry up.
1. Source
It comes from the seven-character poem "Untitled·It's Hard to Say Goodbye When We Meet" written by Li Shangyin.
2. Original text
It is difficult to say goodbye when we meet. The east wind is powerless and the flowers are withered.
Spring silkworms will not run out of silk until they die, and wax torches will not dry until they turn to ashes.
When you look into the mirror at dawn, you are worried about the clouds on your temples. When you sing at night, you should feel the cold moonlight.
There is not much way to get to Pengshan, and the blue bird is diligent in visiting.
3. Translation
Meeting is already difficult, but separation makes us even more embarrassed. The East is weak and the flowers are withered and withered.
The spring silkworm spins its cocoon and spins out the silk only when it dies, and the wax candle like tears cannot drip dry until it burns out and turns to ashes.
When I look in the mirror at dawn, I only worry that my hair will turn gray. When I recite poems at night, I feel that the moonlight is cold.
Penglai Fairy Mountain is not far away from here. I hope that a messenger like a blue bird will diligently visit (lover) on my behalf.
Extended information
1. Creation background
This poem is a love poem about Li Shangyin and Song Huayang, the daughter of Lingduguan in Yuyang Mountain. When Li Shangyin was fifteen or sixteen years old, his family sent him to Yuyang Mountain to study Taoism. He met and fell in love with Song Huayang without being known to outsiders. The author recorded his feelings in poems and expressed their feelings.
2. Appreciation
The poem is filled with painful, disappointing, lingering and persistent emotions from beginning to end. Every couplet in the poem is a reflection of this emotional state. However, the specific artistic conception of each couplet is different from each other. They repeatedly express the complex emotions that run through the whole poem from different aspects. At the same time, they are closely connected with each other and vertically reflect the psychological process with this complex emotion as the content.
This poem describes the separation between the poet and his lover in late spring and the sadness after the separation. In the couplet, the word "silk" of spring silkworm is used as a homophone for "si", and candle tears are used as a metaphor for the tears of lovesickness, which reflects Li Shangyin's exquisite artistic conception. The second half of the article imagines the woman's state of mind and hopes that the blue bird will send a message, which is actually self-comfort in depression.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Untitled·It’s hard to say goodbye when we meet