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