Early Autumn: No. 1
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
西风生翠萝。
残萤委玉露，
早雁拂金河。
高树晓还密，
远山晴更多。
淮南一叶下，
自觉洞庭波。
English translation
Through the long night the clear se drifts, the west wind stirs the green creepers.
The last fireflies rest in the jade-bright dew, early geese sweep across the Golden River.
The tall trees at dawn are still dense, the far hills in clear weather show yet more.
In Huainan, one leaf falls, and I feel in myself the waves of Dongting.
Meaning
Through the long night drift the clear notes of the lute and se; the west wind rustles past as if green vines were stirring.
A few lingering fireflies rest on the wild grass wet with white dew, and at the clear autumn dawn a line of wild geese skims over the river, golden in the first sunlight.
In the early light the tall trees are still thick with leaves, and under a clear sky the layered peaks show their green in sharp relief.
The Huainanzi says that one falling leaf tells of the year's end; I understand the poetry of 'the waves of Dongting rise and the leaves fall from the trees'.
Background
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Having met repeated setbacks and seeing no hope left in an official career, the author wrote this poem to express his bewilderment and perplexity about his own future: he wished to withdraw into seclusion, yet was unwilling to end his days by the river.