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172
(“Congjun xing ershou” 从 军 行 二 首 ):
何 时 反 旧 里
7
遥 见 下 机 来
When will I return to my old home?
Seeing me from afar, my wife would stop her weaving
and come out to welcome me.
(lines 11-12)
But the expression of such emotions evolved over the centuries beyond that of wife and family,
so much so that the frontier setting's many perceivable existents – from the sky to the sands to entities
passing through – as well as the mere act of gazing (wang 望 ) upon the frontier setting were to become
potential catalysts and conveyances of homeward hankerings. One potent example of perception of the
frontier landscape inducing homesickness and a feeling of unrootedness is in the opening of Wang
Changling's first of two “In the Army” (“Congjun xing er shou” 从 军 行 二 首 ):
向 夕 临 大 荒
朔 风 轸 归 虑
平 沙 万 里 余
8
飞 鸟 宿 何 处
Towards evening, looking out over the vast wasteland;
The north wind, thoughts of return hurt my heart.
Level desert over ten thousand li,
Where will the birds in flight spend the night?
(lines 1-4)
The penultimate couplet of Li Bai's “Moon at the Mountain Pass” (“Guanshan yue” 关 山 月 ) also
arranges a similar equation in which mere perception of the frontier produces restless yearnings of
return:
戍 客 望 边 色
9
思 归 多 苦 颜
Garrison sojourners gaze upon the frontier's appearance;
Thoughts of returning home, so many faces full of pain.
(lines 9-10)
7
YFSJ 32.478.
8
YFSJ 33.487.
9
YFSJ 23.337.