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235
安 西 馆 中 思 长 安
At the Anxi Guesthouse and Thinking of Chang'an
家 在 日 出 处
My home is where the sun rises,
37
朝 来 起 东 风
Morning arrives and stirs the eastern wind.
风 从 帝 乡 来
The wind arrives from the capital,
不 异 家 信 通
It is not different from receiving a letter from home.
绝 域 地 欲 尽
In this far off land the earth nears its limit;
孤 城 天 遂 穷
A solitary town, the sky here finally reaches its end.
弥 年 但 走 马
For a full year now I've been on horseback,
终 日 随 飘 蓬
All day long following the wind like a tumbleweed.
寂 寞 不 得 意
Lonely and with aspirations unrealized,
辛 勤 方 在 公
Just assiduously seeing to my work.
胡 尘 净 古 塞 The ancient frontier is cleared of Hu dust, 38
兵 气 屯 边 空
An atmosphere of war still gathers within the borderland
space.
乡 路 眇 天 外
The road home stretches beyond the sky,
归 期 如 梦 中
The date of return seems like a dream.
遥 凭 长 房 术 So far away I have to rely on Zhangfang's magic 39
40
为 缩 天 山 东 And contract the sky and mountains eastwards.
37 The CSJJZ version has 喜 (xi); I have chosen instead to follow the QTS version to read 喜 as 起 (qi).
38 Meaning that the non-Chinese enemy has been pacified. See CSJJZ, p. 85.
39 An allusion to Fei Zhangfang 费 长 房 , a Daoist trainee of Hu Gong 壶 公 , whose story can be found in Ge Hong's 葛 洪
(283-343) Shenxian zhuan 神 仙 传 , “a collection of biographies of eighty-four Daoist immortals. The text has
traditionally been ascribed to Ge Hong [though] most of the biographies are extracted from earlier works, so Ge Hong is
really much more an editor than an author of the Shengxian zhuan”. William H. Nienhauser, Jr., ed., The Indiana
Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, p. 677. The Taiping guangji 太 平 广 记 notes that “Feizhang Fang
possessed the magic of the gods, and could contract a land's geography. A thousand li would seem to exist right before
one's eyes and then disappear as the land expanded back to as it was before”. 费 长 房 有 神 术 , 能 缩 地 脉 , 千 里 存 在 目 前
宛 然 , 放 之 复 舒 如 旧 也 . See Taiping guangji 太 平 广 记 12.4 in SKQS. In his pre-frontier poem “Inscribed on Daoist
Adept Li's Dwelling in Shuangxi, Jingxing county” (“Ti Jingxing Shuangxi Li Daoshi suoju” 题 井 陉 双 溪 李 道 士 所 居 ),
Cen Shen uses the same allusion to express a longing for a quick return home: “Five bristle pine wine/can be found at
the Daoist master's home in Shuangxi./But all I ask is that the land contract/so that I am not made to take a long road
home”. 五 粒 松 花 酒 , 双 溪 道 士 家 . 唯 求 缩 却 地 , 乡 路 莫 教 赊 . See CSJJZ, p. 25. The “wine” here suggests a drink
which could extend one's life. See CSJJZ, p. 25.
40 CSJJZ, p. 84.