Mooring Below Mount Beigu
The traveller’s road lies beyond the green hills;
My boat moves forward over green water.
The tide is full, the space between the banks wide;
A fair wind holds a single sail aloft.
The sun rises over the water before night has ended;
Spring comes to the river while the old year remains.
How can a letter reach my home?
May returning geese carry it toward Luoyang.
Notes
Ci means to stop or moor during a journey. Mount Beigu stands by the Yangtze near present-day Zhenjiang. The full tide widens the view; a fair wind fills the sail. Returning geese evoke the traditional idea of birds carrying letters.
Meaning
Below Mount Beigu, a traveller sees the tide, sail and dawn, then hopes returning geese can carry a letter home.
Appreciation
The opening sets a traveller’s road beyond the hills and a boat moving over the water.
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A full tide opens the space between the banks; one raised sail suggests a fair wind.
Sunrise begins before night is gone, and spring arrives before the old year ends: new and old overlap in visible images.
The final wish turns the view toward home through the traditional image of geese carrying letters.
About the poet
Wang Wan was a Tang poet from Luoyang; his dates of birth and death are uncertain.
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Wang Wan travelled through regions associated with Wu and Chu. Few of his poems survive, and details of his life are limited; Mooring Below Mount Beigu is among his best-known works.