It rained at night and the road was a little muddy in the morning, so the whole family walked along the canal.
Father walked in the front, carrying a large bulging canvas bag. I packed my luggage three days ago. It was my first time traveling far away, so I even brought towels and soap. I followed my father and the heavy luggage, my mother and younger siblings walking behind.
The afternoon train left early in the morning, and we walked very slowly. The familiar aroma spreads from the cornfields on both sides, and the corn is about to be harvested. Going to college makes me excited; saying goodbye to my hometown makes me sad.
As we approached the county seat, the road turned a corner and the village was no longer visible. At the Xiguan intersection, my father and I got on the bus to the train station. Outside the dusty car window, my mother turned into a blurry shadow, and soon only a little bit remained, disappearing from my sight.
It doesn’t feel like the train is moving forward, but that I am shooting backwards towards my hometown like an arrow. Before dark, the mountains replaced the plains, vast and green, beautiful and astonishing. The train roared, passing through tunnels one after another, carrying me to a distant place with no return.
Written by | Three Books
01
The Ming Dynasty was separated by Guanshan Mountain
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< p> "Gui Zi Ballad"(Five Dynasties) Feng Yansi
The cold mountains are green,
Who is playing the jade flute on the river?
The boat is sailing away from Xiaoxiang,
The reeds are thousands of miles away and the moon is white with frost.
Injury and color,
The Ming Dynasty was separated by Guanshan.
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If "Xing" means that an object evokes a certain feeling in the poet's mind, then this kind of arousal also exists for readers. It's just that the reader's feeling is not necessarily aroused by the same object, but may be aroused by any word in the poem. That word can be critical or inconspicuous, depending on the individual's three-dimensional relationship with language and the world. This is the inexhaustible secret between poetry and readers.
This song "The Ballad of Return" touches me with many words, such as Hanshan, River, Jade Flute, Bianzhou, Reed Flowers, Frosty Moon. Almost all the words are like treasures, exuding their own temperament and beauty. But the word that most evokes my personal emotions is "行色".
What is Xingse? This is the memory mentioned at the beginning. How the whole family sent me off that morning, how my father carried the baggage, actually how he walked out of the house, how he waited for a ride, how he bought apples at the intersection... before and after leaving, anything that triggers the emotion of separation is called "Xingse". For a person who is sad to leave, his appearance is almost everything he sees before leaving.
In this poem, everything reflects the beauty of nature and conveys the coolness of parting. "The cold mountains are green", it is already autumn, and although the mountains are green, there is a chill in them. Taibai's poem "Bodhisattva Man" has "the cold mountain area is sad and green". Due to the cold weather, the green color of the mountain makes people sad, or it is said that the green color means sad. Just like if I love you, the white shirt you wear will also be sad white.
The poet Feng Yansi did not say the word "sad". The sadness is implicit in the intertextuality with Taibai's poem, and is conveyed by the sound of the flute in the next sentence. "Who is playing the jade flute on the river?" The flute player has no intention, but the listener has the intention. The sound of the flute was melodious, and there was a moon. The jade flute said many sad words for him. In other words, the jade flute blows out so much sadness about separation, and even before the boat leaves, it already makes people miss each other.
"A small boat sends guests from Xiaoxiang far away." The guests are about to travel far, and a small boat floats on the vast river. A person wanders alone between heaven and earth, feeling small and lonely. He is now a "Xiaoxiang guest", a frustrated person who has been exiled from the world. Along the river, Zhushui, and Mekong, there are thousands of miles of reed flowers, which contrast with the frosty moon, making the top and bottom white. "The reeds are thousands of miles away, the frost and the moon are white," and the desolation and loneliness all mean farewell.
Cold mountains, rivers, jade flutes, reed flowers, frosty moon, and mountains can all be seen as "moving colors", and they are all heartbreaking. Of all these things and situations, the most saddening thing is that after tonight, "Tomorrow will be separated by mountains and mountains." What is blocked by Guanshan is not only the geographical distance, but also implies the huge absence of each other's world, just like Du Fu's poem "Tomorrow is separated by mountains, and the world is boundless."
Qiu Ying's "Picture of Seeing Off Guests in Xunyang" (detail)
02
Two villages are separated by a river
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"Two Farewell Poems on the Autumn River"
(Tang Dynasty) Wang Bo
It is early autumn in a foreign country, and the bright moon in the river pavilion carries the river flow.
I feel sad about the passing of the river, and look back at the Jin tree to leave the boat.
Returning to the boat and riding back on the horse, the south and north of the Yangtze River look at each other.
Who said that the waves are just one river, but the mountains and rivers are two villages.
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In ancient times, until not long ago, a mountain or a river were real barriers. Beyond the mountain and on the other side of the river was the distance. The two villages live across a river. You may be able to see the smoke from cooking stoves and hear chickens and dogs, but the people may not interact with each other until they grow old and die. Even if they occasionally interact with each other, they usually refer to themselves as north and south, are not accustomed to each other's strange accents, and laugh at each other's customs or secretly envy each other's customs.
The second poem of Wang Bo's "Farewell on the Autumn River" is about the feeling of distance separated by water. Farewell at the riverside, "Returning to the boat and riding on the boat is a complete journey." The more solemn the scene, the more sad it becomes. When Guizhou crosses the river to the other side, Guiqi comes to see him off. It is the same return trip, but in the opposite direction.
Return to the south of the Yangtze River by boat, and return to the north of the Yangtze River by horseback. "The north of the Yangtze River and the south of the Yangtze River look at each other." The north of the Yangtze River and the south of the Yangtze River look at each other across a river, close in front of us and far away in the horizon. Returning to the boat and riding back, traveling south and north of the Yangtze River, creating a looping effect in rhythm and rhetoric, thereby discovering the underlying order of things and experiences.
We often say "a drop of water in one's clothes" means that it is just a wisp of water in one's clothes and is not enough to act as a barrier. Wang Bo retorted here, "Who said that waves are only one river, but already feel that mountains and rivers are two townships." A river can separate each other into two townships.
A river may not be wide, and there are boats and bridges that can connect it. However, when you are on this bank, looking at the other bank seems a bit far away. When you say goodbye on the shore and your friends leave by boat, or you are in the boat, once you leave the shore, you are separated not only by water, but also by wind, and also by different time and space.
Wang Bo's talents often arise in such subtle places. The two poems "Farewell on the Autumn River" have a similar form. The first two sentences of the first poem also use interlaced rhetoric to lay out the secret relationship between things, but the observation is more about the behavior mentioned above. "It's early autumn in a foreign country." It's sentimental enough to be in a foreign country, but it's even more valuable in early autumn, which adds to the feeling of separation. "The bright moon in the Jiang Pavilion leads the river to flow." The flow of the river is invisible at night. The moonlight shines on the water, and the water ripples tremble due to the moonlight, just like the moonlight brings the river to flow. The bright moon was originally everywhere, but at this time when I was saying goodbye by the river, the bright moon also disappeared with the water, and it seemed that even the bright moon fell apart.
The last two sentences are even more hurtful. "I feel that the passing river is sad and I don't miss you." The flowing water will take you away. This is the case for the deceased who does not stay for anyone. The passing river has made people say farewell, "Looking again at the tree hidden behind the boat", and I caught a glimpse of your boat, hidden behind the trees at the ferry.
The poet's mind is like a magnetic field, directly attracting the things perceived, and they thus directly enter the echo of emotion and language. Although times have changed and the place of farewell has changed, the human heart has not changed, at least the original intention. When we say goodbye, we look at the time uneasily, catch a glimpse of each other's luggage, and hear the train whistle. I have the same mood as Wang Bo's poem.
Mingwen Boren's "Picture of Seeing Off Guests in Xunyang"
03
When the sail disappears into the sky
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"Yellow Crane Tower Farewell to Meng Haoran in Guangling"
(Tang Dynasty) Li Bai
The old friend left the Yellow Crane Tower in the west,
Fireworks descended from Yangzhou in March.
The shadow of the solitary sail in the distance is gone in the blue sky,
Only the Yangtze River can be seen flowing in the sky.
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Taibai's poem was hailed as "the ancestor of farewell poems" by Chen Jiru of the Ming Dynasty. This poem is certainly not the earliest farewell poem. Meigong probably meant the best. This poem has a high reputation because of its beautiful words, its affection, and also because of the fame of Taibai and Haoran.
Poets in the Tang Dynasty had many contacts with each other. The way poets get close to each other has a lot to do with their age, personality, and talents. It is best for others not to make rash comments. For Li Bai, Meng Haoran was a senior he admired, both in his poetry and as a person. The poem "Gift to Meng Haoran" says: "My love for Master Meng is known all over the world. The beauty abandons the crown, and the white head lies in the pine clouds. The moon is drunk and the saint is in the sky, and the flowers are lost and have nothing to do with you. The high mountains are safe and you can look up, just to bow to the clear fragrance. ." He was so highly praised that every word overflowed from Li Bai's heart.
This time I bid farewell at the Yellow Crane Tower, and Haoran sent me to Guangling. The poem begins after the farewell. "Fireworks descend on Yangzhou in March" is a beautiful line through the ages. It depicts the elegant image of Master Meng and also has the meaning of bowing to the flowers. The misty scenery of Yangchun, the misty flying catkins, the time is as light as a dream, and the place where the old friend is going is also called Yangzhou. This feeling and scene are reflected in the text, weaving a beautiful dream within a dream.
The words used in poetic language to write things, that is, the sentences called "Xing" in the "Book of Songs", are not just a foil for human feelings, but also to express the true meaning. Mr. Zhou Zuoren believes that Wu Ci first writes about the beauty of things, which is the free imagination between the heart and things. For example, "The peach is blooming, its flowers are burning", which does not lose its independent meaning because it is related to a woman's marriage, but precisely because The beauty of peach blossom makes us fall in love with this one among so many poems about women getting married.
Tang poetry still has real "excitement", and we can still hear the original roar of the soul and all things, and the free echo of emotion and imagination. The words in Taibai's poems are particularly beautiful and purely intuitive. Sentences like "Fireworks descend on Yangzhou in March" are even more magical.
"The shadow of the lonely sail disappears in the blue sky." Taibai stood on the Yellow Crane Tower, watching Haoran sail away until his eyesight was exhausted and the shadow of the sail disappeared in the sky. He still looked at it sadly and couldn't bear to leave. At this time, "only the Yangtze River could be seen flowing in the sky", a person just disappeared, as if he had fallen from the earth, and felt farther away than Yangzhou. Especially at that time, people did not know that the earth was round. Looking at the lone sail disappearing from the sky would be a great visual and psychological impact.
The earth is round, even though this is common sense today, but when you stand upstairs and watch the boat rowing on the water, the water flows on the ground, the boat and the water, you and the whole world, all Being sucked onto the surface of a sphere, and the ball is spinning and flying at the same time, think about how incredible this is! If Taibai knew this, I don't know what kind of poem he would write.
Lu You mentioned in "Entering Shu" that Taibai sent this poem to Meng Haoran, which was written in his diary when he passed the Yellow Crane Tower on August 20, 1169. I don't know if he remembered it wrong or if there is a different version. The last two sentences quoted in the book are "The lone sail reflects the blue mountains in the distance, and only the Yangtze River can be seen flowing in the sky." He believed that this was the credible version, and explained that "the sails and canopies reflect the distance, and the mountains are especially impressive. It cannot be known unless the river has been traveling for a long time." I believe what Lu You said is true, but it is not as subtle as "The solitary sail is reflected in the distant blue sky". If it were replaced by the distant reflections and green mountains, it would be like turning gold into iron.
It is affectionate but not romantic, but it is the best lyricism to write about the scene of farewell with feelings in your heart. Taibai's admiration and concern for Haoran are like the endless flow of a river; the emptiness and loneliness left by Haoran are like the eternal blue sky.