"and a moment that ought to have lasted for ever, has come and gone before I knew" expresses the author's strong love for his lover and his melancholy and emotional feelings about the fleeting time.
"and a moment that ought to have lasted for ever, has come and gone before I knew" comes from "Jinse" written by Li Shangyin, a poet in the Tang Dynasty. In the poem, the author recalls his youth, feels sad about his unfortunate experience, and places his feelings of sadness and resentment.
The poem borrows a lot of allusions such as Zhuang Sheng's dream butterfly, cuckoo's crying blood, tears in the sea, good jade and smoke, etc., and uses metaphor, association and imagination to transform auditory feelings into visual images, creating a hazy realm with the combination of fragments of images, thus conveying its sincere, strong and deep thoughts with the help of visual and sensible poetic images.
Extended information
Appreciation of Jinse:
The poem title "Jinse" uses the first two words of the first sentence. In the old saying, it was originally thought to be a poem about objects, but the annotators seem to argue that this poem has nothing to do with the theme of the instrument, and it is really an "untitled" work by using the instrument to hide the theme.
The poet uses the allusions of Tai Di and Motome as metaphors, implying that the poet is different. Others only have three or five strings, but the poet's instrument has as many as fifty strings, which is a unique genius.
It implies that he is extremely gifted, sentimental, sharp and subtle. What a clever use of bi xing. The next sentence, a string and a column, recalls the years of youth love. The first couplet always starts and leads the following. The following are all memories of beautiful youth. But the beauty is not long, which makes people feel lost and disappointed.