Goodbye Yesterday

Goodbye yesterday, goodbye friends, because yesterday is gone. Hello memories of days gone by. Hellos Spring.

At Chang’an Meeting Feng Zhe

You came, my guest from the East,
Whose clothes were covered in rain from Baling.
“Why have you come?” I ask,
To gather firewood in the mountains one needs an axe,” you say.
And everywhere flowers are blooming,
While fledgling swallows drink their milk.
Goodbye yesterday, hello Spring…
How the hair on our head has grown thin!

Wei Yingwu, Chinese poet, Tang dynasty

Meeting Feng Zhe at Chang’an, by the Tang dynasty poet Wei Yingwu. As a young boy of fifteen, he served in the Imperial Bodyguard for the Emperor Xuanzong. Later, he served as governor of Chuzhou (784), Jiangzhou (785), and Suzhou (787-792). Nothing is mentioned of the cause of his death at the age of 55.

Feng Zhe is not identified in English sources. Chinese sources identify him as possibly a hermit and poet.

Original Chinese and Pinyin

長安遇馮著

客從東方來，衣上灞陵雨。
問客何為來，採山因買斧。

冥冥花正開，颺颺燕新乳。

昨別今已春，鬢絲生幾縷。

Cháng’ān yù féngzhe
Kè cóng dōngfāng lái, yī shàng bàlíng yǔ. Wèn kè hé wéi lái, cǎishān yīn mǎi fǔ. Míngmíng huā zhèng kāi, yángyáng yàn xīn rǔ. Zuó bié jīn yǐ chūn, bìnsī shēng jǐlǚ.

韋應物, Wei Yingwu

Notes on Translation

Chang’an — the Tang dynasty capital.

Baling — The mountainous area east of Chang’anl. Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty (180-157BC) was buried in the Baling (Ba mausoleum, Emperor). Wen is regarded as a wise ruler who began the academic system of hiring based on examination and merit (jinshi). The tomb of Emperor Wen was rediscovered in 2006.

Caishan — to gather firewood. Literally picking up wood in the mountains, then chopping it up with an axe.

While the Chinese do not suffer from balding as much as Europeans, hair loss is a condition some Chinese men deal with and thinning sideburns and hair something vain men notice. Wei is more specific than I, identifying Binsi, 鬢絲 ‘sideburns. This may be because binsi (濒死) is a homophone for ‘nearing death.’

Jilu — a few strands.

“白头搔更短，浑欲不胜簪”
báitóu sāo gèng duǎn, hún yù bùshèng zān

The white head scratched becomes thinner, don’t bother wanting a hairpin

Du Fu, from Spring Hope