The Eastern Suburbs
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
出郊旷清曙。
杨柳散和风，
青山澹吾虑。
依丛适自憩，
缘涧还复去。
微雨霭芳原，
春鸠鸣何处。
乐幽心屡止，
遵事迹犹遽。
终罢斯结庐，
慕陶直可庶。
English translation
Cramped the whole year in the clerk's lodging, I go out to the suburbs in the clear dawn.
Willows scatter the gentle wind, green hills calm my thoughts.
I rest by a thicket as it pleases me, then follow the ravine and turn back again.
A fine rain veils the fragrant plain, somewhere a spring dove calls.
I delight in this seclusion, yet my heart often falters, bound to my duties, my steps are hurried still.
At last I will leave this, and build me a hut, to follow Tao Yuanming, that surely is within reach.
Meaning
Confined in the government lodge, I am vexed the whole year round; wandering the countryside, the light of dawn washes and refreshes my heart.
The willows, soft and swaying, waver in the mild breeze; the hills, fair as a painting, quiet my dusty thoughts and worldly passions.
Leaning against a thicket, how peacefully I rest; then along the mountain stream I stroll on at will.
After a light rain the fragrant fields are fresher and sweeter; the turtledove calls again and again, though I cannot tell from where.
I have always loved quiet places, yet somehow I can seldom have my wish; official business clings to me, and life is ever restless and constrained.
I shall at last give up my post and build a thatched hut, following in the footsteps of Tao Qian, and win if I may that pure and gracious spirit.
Background
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This poem was written in the spring of 779 (the fourteenth year of the Dali era), during his tenure as magistrate of Hu County.