Not Finding Lu Hongjian at Home
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
野径入桑麻。
近种篱边菊，
秋来未著花。
扣门无犬吠，
欲去问西家。
报道山中去，
归时每日斜。
English translation
Though he has moved his home out near the city wall, a country path leads in through mulberry and hemp.
He has lately planted chrysanthemums by the fence, but autumn has come and they have not yet bloomed.
I knock at the gate, no dog barks, about to leave, I ask at the house to the west.
They tell me he has gone into the hills, and comes back each day when the sun is low.
Meaning
He has moved his household to the edge of the town, where a country path leads to the mulberry and hemp fields.
The chrysanthemums by the fence must have been planted only recently, for though autumn has come they have not yet flowered.
I knocked at the gate and heard not even a dog bark; about to leave, I went and asked the neighbor to the west.
The neighbor said he had gone into the hills, and would most likely be back toward dusk.
Background
Read the background
Lu Hongjian is Lu Yu, a close friend of Jiaoran, who never held office in his life and lived in retirement by the Tiao River (in present-day Huzhou, Zhejiang), renowned for his mastery of tea. This poem must have been written when Jiaoran, after Lu Yu had moved house, went to visit him and failed to find him.