Crossing South at Lizhou
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
曲岛苍茫接翠微。
波上马嘶看棹去，
柳边人歇待船归。
数丛沙草群鸥散，
万顷江田一鹭飞。
谁解乘舟寻范蠡，
五湖烟水独忘机。
English translation
Calm, the empty water bears the slanting sunlight, the winding islet, dim, meets the green hillside.
A horse neighs aboard as I watch the boat push off, by the willows people rest, awaiting the ferry's return.
A few clumps of sand grass, and a flock of gulls scatters, ten thousand acres of river field, and one egret in flight.
Who understands taking a boat to seek Fan Li, and on the misty waters of the five lakes forgetting the world's designs?
Meaning
The setting sun slants upon the broad water; the winding islet joins the green-swathed hills.
My eyes follow a boat bearing a neighing horse off upon the waves; beneath the willows people wait for the ferry to come to shore.
Among the wide sands and grasses a flock of gulls scatters on every side; above ten thousand acres of river fields a lonely egret spreads its wings.
Who can be like Fan Li, drifting in a little wooden boat, free upon the vast rivers and lakes?
Background
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Wen Tingyun was deeply frustrated in politics throughout his life. Not only did he fail the examinations again and again, but his words often gave offense, offending the emperor and the chief minister (Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Linghu Tao), so that he was long kept down and could only drift from place to place, a displaced and down-and-out man of talent. This poem was written when Wen Tingyun was journeying and crossing the river at Lizhou (with its seat of government at present-day Guangyuan, Sichuan).