Today I watched a short Youtube video titled "What is a tumbleweed". I feel it is so fresh and interesting! Teacher Mark from Calgary, Canada is teaching his international students/suscribers a dry kind of throny weed in the corridor of his house. Below is it!
Then I began to look it up in the dictionary online. According to Collins Dictionary,
Tumbleweed is a plant that grows in desert areas in North America. It breaks off from its roots at the end of its life and then blows around on the ground, looking like a large ball of twigs.
Suddenly it reminded me of a line in a poem written by Libai/李白, being crowned as "Fairy poet".
此地一为别，孤蓬万里征。
I can't help wondering if 孤蓬 means "tumbleweed". As expected, the reference shows that they are the same species, both breaking off from its root and blowing around everywhere in the wind. It seems that tumbleweed grows not only in North America, but also in (ancient) China.
At first, let's enjoy this ancient Chinese poem.
送友人
[ 唐 ] 李白
青山横北郭，白水绕东城。(ch/eng)
此地一为别，孤蓬万里征。 (zh/eng)
浮云游子意，落日故人情。 (q/ing)
挥手自兹去，萧萧班马鸣。 (m/ing)
We can see the poem is in the perfect rhyme. 城(cheng) rhymes with 征(zheng); 情/qing rhymes with 鸣/ming.
What's more, there is a special kind of figurative way in the ancient Chinese poem named 对偶/antithesis. For example, here 青山/blue mountain matches 白水white river; 浮云/floating clouds matches 落日/setting sun. A kind of style of adj.+n. vs adj.+n. Even now, every family still sticks the couplets on the door as a great custom during Chinese Spring Festival. Maybe you are curious about what the spring couplets are？Basically, they are just 2 lines of blessing words in perfect antithesis like the old Chinese poem.
Here I still present you the English version from the late Pro. Xu YuanChong whose translations of the old Chinese poetry can be regarded as classics.
Please click here to enjoy the reciting of it both in English and Chinese
Farewell to a Friend
Green mountains bar the northern sky;
White river grids the eastern town.
Here is the place to say goodbye;
You’ll drift like lonely thistledown.
With floating cloud you’ll float away;
Like parting day I’ll part from you.
You wave your hand and go your way;
Our steeds still neigh, “adieu, adieu!”
In this English version, 蓬/thistledown should refer to the tumbleweed in the above-mentioned Youtube video. Traditionally, Chinese poets like to compare a wandering/drifting lifestyle to the duckweed. Here Libai/李白 used the lonely "tumbleweed" to imply that his friend would have no abiding place, without knowing if they could meet each other again in the future. He will float away into the distance like the free floating clouds in the sky, whereas the author parts from him with reluctance like the sun has fallen slowly and unwillingly. At last, even the horses they ride seperately give a loud neigh as if they were saying farewell to each other affectionately. What a touching scene full of emotions!
Do you relish this old Chinese poem？Welcome to leave the comment below! Your support will be my biggest motivation to keep sharing them to the outside world. May the old Chinese poem be the bridge to connect the west and east! Thanks to the word: tumbleweed!