Glad to Meet My Cousin, Then Speaking of Farewell
After ten years of upheaval and separation,
We meet once more, both grown.
Asking your surname, I am startled at first;
Hearing your name, I remember your old face.
We tell of the sea changes since we parted,
Until evening bells sound as our talk ends.
Tomorrow, on the road to Baling,
How many layers of autumn mountains will stand between us?
Notes
Waidi is a younger cousin, often on the mother’s side. “Changes of sea and land” evokes great changes over time. Baling is in the area of modern Yueyang, Hunan.
Meaning
After years of separation, the poet meets his cousin, talks of changes, and faces another farewell the next day.
Appreciation
Long upheaval and a sudden reunion make the meeting precious.
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Surname and name trace the movement from unfamiliarity to recognition.
The evening bell brings their account of past changes into the present moment.
The road and layered autumn hills shift the poem toward another impending farewell.
About the poet
Li Yi, courtesy name Junyu, was a Tang poet associated by ancestry with Guzang in Liangzhou; accounts of his dates differ.
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Li Yi’s poetry includes frontier travel and farewell themes. The authorship of Hearing a Flute at Shouxiang is also recorded differently in some sources.