Meditation on the Past at Mount Xisai
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
金陵王气黯然收。
千寻铁锁沉江底，
一片降幡出石头。
人世几回伤往事，
山形依旧枕寒流。
今逢四海为家日，
故垒萧萧芦荻秋。
English translation
Wang Jun's towered ships came down from Yizhou, the royal aura of Jinling dimmed and was gone.
Thousand-fathom chains of iron sank to the river's bed, a single surrender flag came forth from Stone City.
How many times has the world grieved over what is past? The mountain's form still rests upon the cold current.
Now we have come to the day when all within the seas are one house, the old ramparts, and reed and sedge rustling in autumn.
Meaning
Wang Jun's warships came east down the river from Yizhou, and the glorious royal aura of Jinling abruptly lost its glow.
A thousand fathoms of iron chain sank to the river bed; a single flag of surrender hung upon the walls of Stone City.
After the fall of Wu, the dynasties that made Jinling their capital perished one after another; today Mount Xisai still stands hard against the Yangtze.
Henceforth the realm is one; the old ramparts lie desolate, overgrown with reeds, in the soughing autumn wind.
Background
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This poem was written by Liu Yuxi in 824, the fourth year of the Changqing era of Emperor Muzong of Tang. In that year Liu Yuxi was transferred from the prefectship of Kuizhou (with its seat at present-day Fengjie, Chongqing) to that of Hezhou (with its seat at present-day Hexian, Anhui); passing Mount Xisai on his way east down the river to take up the post, he wrote this poem out of his feelings.