Seeing Off Qiwu Qian Returning Home After Failing the Exam
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
英灵尽来归。
遂令东山客，
不得顾采薇。
既至金门远，
孰云吾道非。
江淮度寒食，
京洛缝春衣。
置酒长安道，
同心与我违。
行当浮桂棹，
未几拂荆扉。
远树带行客，
孤村当落晖。
吾谋适不用，
勿谓知音稀。
English translation
In a sage reign there are no hermits, all the finest spirits have come to court.
And so the recluse of East Mountain could not stay to gather bracken.
He reached the golden gate, though far, who would say that his Way was wrong?
Through Jiang and Huai he passed the Cold Food Festival, in the capital his spring clothes were made.
I set out wine upon the Chang'an road, you of like heart, now parted from me.
Soon you will float the cassia oars, before long push open your bramble gate.
Distant trees attend the traveler, a lonely village faces the setting light.
My counsel was simply not taken, do not say that true friends are few.
Meaning
In an age of good government there are no hidden men; those with talent come forth in numbers to serve the court.
Even you, a recluse of the hills like Xie An, would no longer follow Bo Yi and Shu Qi to gather bracken.
You have failed in the examination and cannot wait for the summons at the Golden Horse Gate; that is ill fortune, who would say the way you follow is wrong?
Last year at the Cold Food season you were crossing the Jiang and the Huai; you lingered in the capital region, and another year has passed since you sewed your spring garment.
Now once more outside the city of Chang'an we spread the farewell wine; you who share my heart must part from me again.
Soon you will sail southward in a little boat, and in a few days be knocking at your own brushwood gate.
The trees of the far hills will hide you from my sight; the evening glow will lend the lonely village a radiant grace.
That you have not been taken into service is pure chance; do not think those who know your worth are few and sigh in vain!
Background
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Qi Wuqian passed the jinshi examination in 726 (the fourteenth year of the Kaiyuan era of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang); his failure in the examination that this poem refers to must therefore have come at least three years earlier, which would place the poem before 723 (the eleventh year of Kaiyuan), when Wang Wei was demoted to Jizhou.