In an epic poem that marks the passage of time with the changing of the seasons,
Li Bai, the famous Chinese poet, describes the coming together of a young teenage couple amidst the vast bucolic splendor of historic Changgan County.
In this ancient poem, “Memories of Changgan,” Li Bai speaks through the voice of a
beautiful young woman, longing for her distant lover. In a brilliant description of
heartbreaking teenage emotion, writes,
When my first hair began to cover my head,
I picked and played with flowers at the door.
Then you came riding on a bamboo horse*.
You circled the path; playing with green plums.
We lived together here in Changgan.
Two small children without even a misgiving.
Then when I was fourteen, I became your wife.
I was so shy that my face remained closed.
But I bowed my head to the shadowy wall,
And I called you a thousand times, but I never came back, not even once.
At fifteen I began to raise my eyebrows, and I wanted to be with you
like dust with ashes.
However, you always kept your huge pillar of faith **.
I didn’t have to go up any hill to look for you.
But when I was sixteen you went far, far away…
to Yandui in Qutong Gorge.
You shouldn’t have risked the dangerous floods coming in May.
And now, while the sad monkeys cry in the sky, my step has left a mark before the door.
And little by little the green grass has grown.
The moss is too deep to push it.
And as the leaves fall in the first winds of autumn; in August the butterflies are yellow.
A couple of them fly over the grass in the western garden. I feel like they’re hurting my heart.
My face now turns sad, red and old.
When you go down the river, send a letter to your house.
We will go to meet no matter how far.
I’ll go find you in Changfengsha.
A contemporary reading of events
In a bittersweet tale of a young girl’s adolescence, this poem demonstrates the poets’ great ability to describe the kind of deep, genuine emotion that can go to the bone.
Brimming with playful and heartfelt images and full of rustic and wild scenes, its real value may lie in the human drama that can, like the woman in the poem, encourage us to question the foundations on which our very existence is built.
A massive pillar of faith
In a story that recalls the spiritual dimensions of a young woman’s first love, we find a girl awakened by the opening of her heart and soul. Tragically, however, this wonderful feeling soon begins to fade.
Overwhelmed by an emptiness that threatens to take over her soul, she searches forward. But the longing for her is followed by pain; a tragic and painful loss.
However, in the end she keeps calling. But only the poet knows if her true love will ever return.
And now the sad monkeys cry
In a scene where monkeys are said to cry in the sky, the young woman is immersed in her desperate longing and pain. She screams, but no one can really hear her.
And little by little the green grass continues to grow. But the moss is now too deep to push it.
My face turns sad, red and old
In a painful state of sadness, the young woman must deal with a series of emotions for which she unfortunately has not been prepared. Facing the prospect of a life of solitude, racing thoughts and endless ruminations begin to disturb her mind. And tragically, they begin to take their toll.
The sad mourning woman cries: “As the leaves fall in the first winds of autumn; in August the butterflies are yellow… I feel that they are damaging my heart.”
When you come to the river send a letter to your house
However, in a show of hope, she looks inside. Hoping to find a dream that will rekindle her unwavering faith in her, she says, “When you get to the river, send a letter home. We’ll meet no matter how far.”
I will come to see you in Changfengsha.”
a foregone conclusion
However, the ultimate fate of our lovely young lady is certainly something we must question.
Will her heroic husband return?
Is she destined to live alone?
Or will it get lost in a sea of ​​bitterness, or like the beautiful butterflies, will it learn to fly little by little, above?
….. Because only she and the poet will really get to know.
Footnotes:
*a bamboo horse is a bamboo cane used as a toy horse
** a massive pillar of faith is a term from a traditional Chinese story. In this story, a man managed to meet his mistress by the pillar of a bridge. When the waters of the river rose, he continued to cling to the pillar waiting for his return. However, he ultimately drowned while waiting.