Meet sb. leave
[Tang] Wang Wei
I got off the horse, poured you wine and asked where you were going and why.
You said you would go back to Zhongnanshan because you were not proud of your life.
Just left, I want to ask again, look at the white clouds floating.
Translation:
Please dismount and have a drink. Dare you ask your friend where you are going?
You said that because you were not satisfied with your life, you went back to your hometown and lived in seclusion near Zhong Nanshan.
Let's go. Why should I ask again? Look at the white clouds floating endlessly.
Extended data
Creation background
Wang Wei's "Farewell" uses Zen into poetry, which is full of Zen master's initiative. The disciples of the Zen master often don't talk, but do some strange things for the sake of "mutual affinity".
Even if you want to convey Zen, it is often a wonderful metaphor, and the profound meaning is hidden in the images of nature, so that disciples can experience it themselves. Wang Wei absorbed this method of expressing deep meaning through intuition, suggestion, metaphor and symbol in his poetry creation.
In this poem, he condensed and integrated the complex feelings of his inner world into a natural picture of "white clouds passing through there endlessly", thus achieving the artistic effect of "smiling at flowers is self-evident" and full of thoughts.
This poem is written to send a friend to retire. A seemingly prosaic sentence, when read carefully, is simple, affectionate and meaningful. Wang Wei's works are a hermit with his own shadow. As for why he is not proud, Lao Du and others must have a lot of complaints, but only one point is mentioned here, which shows the elegance of character temperament, the rejection of secularity and the yearning for seclusion.
This poem is written to send a friend to retire. A seemingly prosaic sentence, when read carefully, is simple, affectionate and meaningful.