Written at the New Year
At the new year, longing for home grows keen;
At the edge of the sky I weep alone.
Old age finds me serving beneath others;
Spring returns before this traveller can.
Mountain apes accompany morning and evening;
Riverside willows share the wind and mist.
Already I resemble the tutor of Changsha;
How many more years must pass from now?
Notes
The edge of the sky suggests great distance from home. The traveller is the speaker. The tutor of Changsha refers to Jia Yi, a Han writer sent to serve the prince of Changsha; the comparison invokes an earlier story of displacement.
Meaning
At the new year, a traveller longs for home and compares his situation to the earlier writer Jia Yi at Changsha.
Appreciation
The new year intensifies longing when the speaker is far from home.
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Spring’s return is contrasted with the traveller’s inability to return.
Apes, willows and mist make the place of exile tangible.
Jia Yi’s story and the final question leave the duration of separation uncertain.
About the poet
Liu Changqing, courtesy name Wenfang, was a Tang poet who served as prefect of Suizhou. His dates and place of origin are uncertain.
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He held offices in several places and experienced exile; landscapes, partings and journeys appear in his work.
His poems include Seeing Off Master Lingche and Staying with the Master of Furong Mountain in Snow.