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Féng Rù Jīng ShǐMeeting an Envoy Bound for the Capital 逢入京使
Cen Shen sends a one-line message home from the frontier.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
故园东望路漫漫
gù yuán dōng wàng lù màn màn
双袖龙钟泪不干
shuāng xiù lóng zhōng lèi bù gān
马上相逢无纸笔
mǎ shàng xiāng féng wú zhǐ bǐ
凭君传语报平安
píng jūn chuán yǔ bào píng ān
Simplified characters; traditional title: 逢入京使.
English translation
I look east to my homeland—the road stretches on and on;
Both sleeves are soaked; the tears will not dry.
We meet on horseback with neither paper nor brush—
I trust you to take word that I am safe.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
The first couplet is pure longing, the second a sudden practical scene: two riders meeting on the road, no time or means to write. So the message shrinks to two words, "safe and sound." The contrast between overflowing emotion and a tiny verbal message is what makes the poem so moving.
Background
Written in 749 as Cen Shen traveled west to take up a post in Anxi (in today's Xinjiang) and met an envoy heading east to Chang'an.
Key words
- 故园 gù yuán
- home, old garden
- 龙钟 lóng zhōng
- wet, dripping (of sleeves)
- 报平安 bào píng ān
- to report that one is safe
About the poet: Cen Shen
Cen Shen served for years on the far northwestern frontier and is the leading poet of the deserts, snows and garrisons of Central Asia.
Lifetime: c. 715–770. Other famous works: Written in the Desert (碛中作); Meeting an Envoy Bound for the Capital (逢入京使); Song of White Snow in Farewell to Assistant Wu (白雪歌送武判官归京).