Autumn in Qin: To the Monk Yuan
I have long wished to rest among the hills;
Yet lack the means to return to a secluded home.
The northern lands are not where I wish to stay;
I think of my teacher in the eastern woods.
My gold has all been spent like precious firewood;
My ambitions fade with the passing years.
Evening brings a cool wind;
The sound of cicadas only deepens my sorrow.
Notes
Qin refers to the Guanzhong region. Yuan was a monk; shangren is an honorific. The hill and three paths evoke a secluded home. Burning costly cassia wood suggests high living expenses. The precise referent of the eastern woods is interpreted differently.
Meaning
In Qin, the poet contrasts a wish for retreat with financial difficulty and sends thoughts to a monk as autumn sounds deepen his sadness.
Appreciation
The hill and three paths suggest retreat, while lack of means places that wish in tension with reality.
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Northern lands and the eastern woods distinguish where the speaker is from where his thoughts go.
Costly fuel and fading ambition join material hardship with inner change.
Evening wind and cicadas bring the poem back to the immediate sounds of autumn.
About the poet
Meng Haoran (689–740) was a Tang poet from the area of present-day Xiangyang, Hubei.
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He traveled widely and wrote about landscapes, rural life and journeys.
He is often associated with Wang Wei; his surviving works include Spring Morning, Passing an Old Friend’s Farm, and Mooring on the Jiande River.