Poetic China: “Farewell” our life subject

Farewell

Li Shutong (1880—1942)

Beside a long pavilion, by an ancient pathway,

A green pasture extends to the horizon like a bay.

Dusk winds caress willow trees as flute music dwindles.

The sun sets mountains and mountains away.

To the border of the sky, to the end of the earth,

We are going where there are fewer acquaintances.

Let’s toast for our last joyful day together.

Tonight a chilling dream of farewell will leave me in pieces.

Time perishes; it never stays.

Today we will go our separate ways.

A song of farewell is dedicated to us.

We gaze upon one another, feeling attached to good old days.

Being together is nice and being apart saddening.

The world is worth contemplating.

In the future, we may meet again.

No more hesitation about leaving!

Every summer, there will be a group of graduates. In China, the college entrance examination takes place in June. This exam means a lot to most students, since it may change your life, whether to a bright side or to a normal or bad one. And also, this means one period of life will come to an end. Students will enter college and grow up to adults. They will have to say goodbye to their old friends and teachers, and after a long summer vacation, they will say hi to new school, new people.

There are full of goodbyes in our entire life. It is also important to say farewells to people we met and liked. Though hard it is, we must learn how to express our miss and love, show our treasuring of the valuable relationships, and send our sincere wishes.

Today we are going to appreciate a piece of poem, or a song, called Farewell. It is one of the most popular 20th-century Chinese poems. Almost every educated Chinese person can recite at least its first stanza. Li was born into a wealthy family amid the decline of the Qing Dynasty. When the Qing government tried to modernize China by sending students to study overseas, Li went to an arts and music academy in Japan. He returned to China with a Japanese wife in 1910. From then on he taught music and arts at high schools and junior colleges until deciding to become a Buddhist monk in 1918. He spent the rest of his life in a Buddhist temple. This poem was adapted into a song in Taiwan and that further increased its popularity.

Copyright:  A POETIC PORTAL TO CHINESE CULTURE, China Pictorial Press