Seeing Magistrate Li Off to Zizhou
In countless ravines trees rise to the sky;
Across the mountains cuckoos call.
A night of rain falls among the hills;
Above the treetops countless streams descend.
Han women deliver cloth woven from the tong tree;
Ba people bring disputes over taro fields.
May you renew Wen Weng’s work of teaching,
And not rely merely on the earlier sage.
Notes
Zizhou was a Tang prefecture near modern Santai, Sichuan; shijun is a respectful title for a prefect. The rain line also has a variant reading. Tong cloth was made from tree fibre. Wen Weng, an official in Han-era Shu, was remembered for education; interpretations of the final couplet differ.
Meaning
The poet imagines the landscape and local affairs of his friend’s destination, ending with an allusion to a celebrated earlier official.
Appreciation
Trees, mountains, birds, rain and streams let the farewell travel imaginatively toward the destination.
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Cloth and field disputes shift attention from landscape to local affairs.
Wen Weng’s example brings the tradition of education into the parting message.
The close can be read as encouragement to act, though its precise tone is debated.
About the poet
Wang Wei (c. 701–761), courtesy name Mojie, was a Tang poet, painter and official whose family originated near present-day Qixian, Shanxi.
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He served in government and spent time at Wangchuan; poems exchanged with Pei Di are well known.
His works also include Deer Enclosure and Seeing Yuan Er Off to Anxi.