Yearning Echoes: Poems about Homesickness
In ancient Chinese poetry, homesickness is a recurring theme. Many of the ancient Chinese poets were also bureaucrats who embarked on long journeys for their official duties. These poets lived in a country with a robust central government that administered distant regions, yet the technology of the period didn't allow easy travel. In this article, we’ve translated four Tang dynasty poems that express longing for home. The first three poems were written by Wang Wei, while the author of the last one remains unknown.
杂诗三首 Three Pieces of Miscellaneous Poems 王维 (Author: Wang Wei, 8th century) 其一 Number One 家住孟津河，home reside meng jin river 门对孟津口。door face meng jin ferry 常有江南船，often have river south boat 寄书家中否？ mail letter home inside no
Translation: My home is on the Meng Jin River Where I look out at the ferry. Boats often come from the South. Have you never mailed me a letter?
其二 Number Two 君自故乡来，you from old village come 应知故乡事。should know old village affairs 来日绮窗前，come day gorgeous window before 寒梅著花未？cold plum flower open flower or not
Translation: You’ve come from my home town And must know what happens there. Tell me, has the cold plum flower Opened beneath the lattice window?
其三 Number Three 已见寒梅发，already see cold plum flower open 复闻啼鸟声。again hear crying bird sound 心心视春草，heart heart look at spring grass 畏向玉阶生。afraid of towards jade stairs grow
Translation: Already I've seen the cold plum flower open And heard the birds crying again. Oh my heart, the sadness of looking at the spring grass And feeling afraid when it grows toward the marble stairs.
杂诗 Miscellaneous Poem 无名氏 （Author: Anonymous, Tang Dynasty） 近寒食雨草萋萋，close cold food rain grass luxuriant luxuriant 著麦苗风柳映堤。blow wheat seedling wind willow shine embankment 等是有家归未得，equal is have family return not can 杜鹃休向耳边啼。cuckoo no towards ear beside cry
Translation: It’s almost Sweep the Graves Day, and the rain has made the grass grow thick. The wheat seedlings tremble in the wind, and the river mirrors the willow trees. Why can’t I return to my family? Cuckoo bird, don’t make your mournful cry where I can hear you.
Translation notes:
The first three poems were penned by Wang Wei after the An Lushan rebellion, when he lived as a recluse near the Meng Jin area, far from his hometown. The first poem reflects the strong desire of a wife to hear from her husband. She resides along the Meng Jin River in the north, while her husband travels to the south. She hoped that a boat from the south would carry her husband’s letter, but her hope remained unfulfilled.
In the second poem, Wang Wei employs the “cold plum flower” as a symbol. This flower represents objects familiar to him from his hometown and serves to express his homesickness. The third poem employs the image of growing spring grass to convey Wang Wei’s deepening sense of longing for home. In the final line, the literal translation of “玉阶” would be “jade stairs.” We translate it into "marble stairs" rather than "jade stairs" as we think Western readers would understand a marble staircase, but probably not a jade one.
Grass is a frequently employed symbol for humble, day to day life and the strong emotions needed to sustain that life. Bai Juyi’s Grass, which is translated in this substack, makes brilliant use of this symbol. The fourth poem, whose author remains unknown, also uses the symbol of “grass growing thick” to evoke his powerful longing for the home he has left behind. Another touching symbol is the mournful cry of Cuckoo birds. In Chinese folklore, an ancient king in the southwestern part of China transformed himself into a Cuckoo bird. His crying persists because he was believed to have been overthrown by a usurper. Some versions of Chinese folklore even claim that the Cuckoo bird won’t cease its cries until blood flows from its bill. There is a similar image in Li Shangyin's poem "Painted Zither", which we've also translated in this substack. Thus, the crying of Cuckoo birds often symbolizes these desperate and harsh emotions, such as homesickness.
In the first couplet of the fourth poem, the name of the festival is the “Cold Food Festival,” if translated literally. It is a traditional Chinese holiday which originated from the commemoration of the death of a nobleman during the Spring and Autumn period (around the 7th century BC). It gradually evolved into an occasion for the Chinese to worship their ancestors. During the Tang dynasty, ancestral observance became a single-day event that is now the “Sweep the Graves Day,” which is how we translated it. We assume that most American readers wouldn’t know what “Cold Food Festival” is but that “sweep the graves” would convey the meaning. Whether we call it cold food festival or sweep the graves day, it is a time for returning to your home town and being with family.