A Song of Jiangnan
I married a merchant who travels through Qutang Gorge;
Day after day he misses the time he promised me.
Had I known the tide keeps faith,
I would have married someone who rides the tide.
Notes
Qutang is a gorge on the Yangtze. Gu means merchant. The tide is said to keep faith because it returns at predictable times; a tide rider is someone who works or plays upon the water.
Meaning
A woman contrasts her merchant husband’s missed return with the reliable coming and going of the tide.
Appreciation
The merchant’s route hints at long absences.
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“Day after day” turns a missed promise into repeated waiting.
The imagined marriage to a tide rider carries playful reproach as well as a wish for reunion.
The dependable tide contrasts with the uncertain return of a person.
About the poet
Li Yi, courtesy name Junyu, was a Tang poet associated by ancestry with Guzang in Liangzhou; accounts of his dates differ.
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Li Yi’s poetry includes frontier travel and farewell themes. The authorship of Hearing a Flute at Shouxiang is also recorded differently in some sources.