Song of River City

By Su Shi(Song Dynasty)

Song of River City

By Su Shi(Song Dynasty)

Ten years,dead and living dim and draw apart.

I don’t try to remember,

But forgetting is hard.

Lonely grave a thousand miles off,

Cold thoughts,where can I talk them out?

Even if we met,you wouldn’t know me,

Dust on my face,

Hair like frost.

In a dream last night suddenly I was home.

By the window of the little room,

You were combing your hair and making up.

You turned and looked,not speaking,

Only lines of tears coursing down.

Year after year will it break my heart?

The moonlit grave,

The stubby pines.

The poem was written around 1075,when the poet Su Shi dreamed about his wife.He married his wife Wang Fu in 1054 at her fifteen.Unfortunately his wife died in 1065,11 years after they get married.The next year he took her body back to his homeland Sichuan and buried it in the family graveyard,planting some pines around the tomb.He loved his wife so much and composed this poem to express his feelings.

(From chinawhisper.com)