When I was young, I had a strange energy, and I was as strong and fierce as a tiger;
I was too cramped to do anything, but in my middle age, all obstacles disappeared.
Fang Wen (1612---1669) had the courtesy name Erzhi and his nickname was Songshan. His original name was Kongwen and his courtesy name was Ershi. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, he changed his name to Yi Lei, and his nicknames were Huaixi Shanren, Mingnong, and Lonicera. A native of Tongcheng, Anqing Prefecture, Anhui Province (now Fengyili, Tongcheng District), he was the eldest son of Fang Daxuan. In the late Ming Dynasty, many students who entered the Qing Dynasty did not hold official positions. They made a living by traveling around, selling divination, practicing medicine, or serving as teachers in private schools. They interacted with people in Fushe and several other societies, and encouraged themselves with their integrity. Fang Wenzhi's poems in the early stage were learned from Du, and many of his poems were old works; in the later stage, he studied Bai Juyi specifically, and he was as clear as words and good at narrative.
In his early years, he was as famous as Qian Chengzhi. Later, he was known as one of the "Three Tongcheng Poets" along with Fang Zhenguan and Fang Shiju. He was the author of "Collection of Songshan".
The first time I read this poem was in May 2012, when I was still young and full of energy, "as powerful as a tiger". What I wrote at the time was: "This poem has an old-fashioned air, and it will be difficult for those who are not middle-aged to understand it."
The feeling of mutual sympathy, seven years ago I understood and agreed with the first two lines of the poem, but now I understand the last two sentences deeply.
For most boys, the age when their physical energy is "as powerful as a tiger" is also the period when they are most economically destitute, and there is nowhere to express their full energy. Nowadays, the economic conditions have improved slightly, and I am now middle-aged. Along with the sharpness of his youth, his full of passion and blood were also worn away, and his body functions were not as good as before. Although these seven years cannot be said to have experienced ups and downs, I have also felt the helplessness of reality, and gradually understood the last two lines of the poem, "I am too cramped to do anything, and all obstacles are eliminated in middle age."
It is such an unpopular poem, with simple and easy-to-understand words, but it took me seven or eight years to truly understand the emotion behind it.