Parting Again at Jiangzhou with Xue and Liu
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
世事空知学醉歌。
江上月明胡雁过，
淮南木落楚山多。
寄身且喜沧洲近，
顾影无如白发何。
今日龙钟人共弃，
愧君犹遣慎风波。
English translation
Who could have thought my life would be graced by a kind decree? Of the world's affairs I have vainly learned the drunken song.
Over the river the moon is bright, Tartar geese pass by, in Huainan the leaves are falling, the hills of Chu grow bare.
I lodge my body here and am glad the sea-shore is near, I look at my shadow, but what can be done with white hair?
Today, old and shambling, cast off by all the world, I am shamed that you still bid me beware the wind and waves.
Meaning
After years of a life cast down and neglected, who would have thought I should receive the Son of Heaven's abundant grace? I have seen through all the world's affairs, and wish only to follow the ancients who drank deep and sang wild songs.
The moonlight over the river is wondrously clear, and Hu geese flit across the night sky. The autumn wind rises, the trees south of the Huai are stripped bare, and on the hills of Chu the fallen leaves must be more plentiful still.
I rejoice that for a while I have a place to lodge my body here, close beside the sea. Turning to the bright mirror I study my reflection again and again; my thinning white hair fills the heart with a vain distress.
Now you and I alike have grown old, both alike stumbling and infirm. You still charge me to be wary of the perils of the world, and it fills me with deep shame and boundless gratitude.
Background
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In 782, the third year of the Jianzhong era of Emperor Dezong of Tang, Li Xilie's rebel forces occupied Suizhou; having lost the prefecture, the poet drifted to Jiangzhou (present-day Jiujiang, Jiangxi) and later accepted a post in the headquarters of the military governor of Huainan. Before his departure he had already written a five-character regulated verse, "Parting at Jiangzhou from the Two Gentlemen Xue the Sixth and Liu the Eighth," and hence this poem is titled "Parting Again." Another account holds that it was written in 758, the third year of the Zhide era of Emperor Suzong of Tang, when the poet was demoted to be defender of Nanba; he had stayed a while at Hongzhou along the way, and wrote it when passing through Jiangzhou.