Wang Wei: Tears For Meng Haoran

 

Wang Wei: Tears For Meng Haoran

哭 孟 浩 然

故 人 不 可 见
汉 水 日 东 流.                                                                                                        借 问 襄 阳 老
江 山 空 蔡 洲.

Ku Meng Hao Ran

Gu ren bu ke jian
Han shui ri dong liu.                                                                                                                    Jie wen xiang yang lao
Jiang shan kong cai zhou.

Tears for Meng Haoran

Not able to see my old friend
Han River continually flows to the east.                                                                       Ask the old people of Xiangyang
River and mountains empty at Caizhou.

 

Notes:

Xiangyang: Meng Haoren’s hometown, where Wang Wei went looking for his old friend.  A biography and the poems of Meng Haoran can also be found on this website.

Caizhou: A river islet settlement very close to Xiangyang.. Here Wang Wei is implying that Meng Haoren will be long remembered like Cai, whose town is named after him.