Drifting on the Ruoye Stream in Spring
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
此去随所偶。
晚风吹行舟，
花路入溪口。
际夜转西壑，
隔山望南斗。
潭烟飞溶溶，
林月低向后。
生事且弥漫，
愿为持竿叟。
English translation
The love of quiet never leaves me, I go on, following wherever chance may lead.
The evening wind drives my boat, a flowery way leads into the mouth of the stream.
At nightfall I turn into the western ravine, across the hills I watch the Southern Dipper.
Mist drifts thick above the pool, the moon over the wood sinks low behind me.
The business of living is wide and vague as water, I would be an old man with a fishing rod.
Meaning
My heart in seeking out the secluded and the lovely knows no fixed end, but stirs anew with every scene I see along the way.
The evening breeze plays upon my boat; borne along by the light wind, I turn into a stream mouth lined with spring blossoms.
At nightfall I round a valley in the west, and across the hill look up at the Southern Dipper in the sky.
A soft mist rises over the pool; the moon among the trees seems to sink down behind my boat.
The affairs of men are like the boundless mist that spreads upon the stream, dim and insubstantial; better to become an old fisherman dwelling in retreat.