It means to get drunk today if you have wine. Don’t think about tomorrow’s things. Let’s talk about tomorrow’s troubles tomorrow. Just drink today. It is often used to persuade people to be free and easy, and to persuade people not to be too worried.
From Luo Yin's "Self-dispatch" in the late Tang Dynasty
Original text: Sing loudly when you gain, and stop when you lose, and worry and hate are also long. If you have wine today, you will be drunk today, and you will be worried tomorrow.
Translation: Sing whenever you get the chance, otherwise you will give up. You can ignore all your sorrow and resentment and still be happy. If you have wine today, drink too much to get drunk. If you have worries tomorrow, wait until tomorrow to worry about them.
When you can't resolve your frustrations, you can get drunk to relieve your worries. But if you really have wine to relieve your sorrows all the time, it’s not a bad idea to be drunk all your life. But the poet is a poor and depressed literati, and he cannot have wine every day. The repetition of the two "present days" shows that the so-called relief from worries is only a temporary relief.
Because Luo Yin lived in a society of the late Tang Dynasty where politics was extremely corrupt, and his official career was bumpy, he failed to win the imperial examination in ten attempts, so his ambition turned into anger. He regarded his fame as smoke and clouds, and often felt angry His sharp writing style exposes the ugliness of reality, criticizes political corruption, and expresses the resentment in his heart.
Extended information:
Luo Yin's official career was bumpy, and he failed to win the imperial examination in ten attempts, so he wrote "Self-dispatch". This poem expresses his decadent mood after political frustration, which may not contain a bit of cynicism.
This poem has always been recited. In addition to reflecting a typical outlook on life of intellectuals in the old era, what should not be ignored is that the poem is quite unique in its artistic expression.
This is first reflected in the pursuit of image in poetry. At first glance, this poem contains no scene language and is all straightforward lyricism. But all the love words in the poem are not abstract lyricism, but can give people a concrete and complete impression.
For example, the first sentence says that there is no need to worry about gains and losses. If it is stated directly, it will become abstract and conceptual. The half-confessional and half-advising tone of "Sing loudly when you gain, give up when you lose", especially the attitude of "singing loudly" with one's back, gives people a vivid and concrete feeling.
Emotions have a "state" and are visualized. In the second sentence, instead of saying "sorrow and hatred" which is too boring, say "Yiyouyou". Long, endless, meaning too unbearable. It also has a concrete and vivid effect, not just taking advantage of the rhyme.
Similarly, instead of just dawdling about it, he said, "If you have wine today, you will be drunk today, and you will be worried tomorrow." It also crystallizes the phrase "Sing loudly when you gain, and stop when you lose", creating an image of a wild scholar who sings and drinks. Ready to come out. This is the overall image created by this poem.
It is not enough to point out this point, but also to see that this image has a unique personality. As long as this poem is compared with "Golden Thread Song" by Du Qiuniang, which also contains the connotation of "carpe diem", it is not difficult to see.
It talks about flowers and young people, so "Don't wait until there are no flowers and break branches", which means living up to your youth and working hard in time; while here, the image is taken from singing and drinking, which brings out the decadence of old age. , "If you have wine now, you will be drunk now" always makes people feel a kind of desolation and resentment.