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Li Shangyin (Tang Dynasty)
It is difficult to say goodbye when we meet, the east wind is powerless and the flowers are withered.
Spring silkworms will not run out of silk until they are dead, and wax torches will turn to ashes before their tears dry up.
When you look into the mirror at dawn, you are worried about the clouds on your temples. When you sing at night, you should feel the cold moonlight.
There is not much way to Penglai, so the blue bird is diligent in visiting.
It is difficult to meet each other, and even harder to say goodbye, not to mention in this late spring season when the east wind is weak and the flowers are withered!
Appreciation The ancients often said "It's easy to say goodbye but it's hard to say goodbye", but this poem says "It's also difficult to say goodbye". The way of saying it is different, but the meaning goes further. The last sentence says "It's hard to say goodbye", which expresses the feeling of being apart and leaving. The next sentence is a foil to the previous sentence. The flowers have withered, which means that the east wind that gave birth to the flowers has lost its power, and it also means that spring is coming to an end. It is even more embarrassing to encounter the pain of separation in such an environment. These two sentences have twists and turns and go deep into each other, so Feng Ban, a man of the Qing Dynasty, said: "The beauty lies in the first couplet" ("Ying Kui Lv Sui Review"). Huang Shucan also specifically pointed out: "The first sentence has seven characters, but it is difficult to meet each other, so it is even more difficult to say goodbye" ("Notes on Tang Poetry").