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Zá ShīMiscellaneous Poem (You Have Come from Home) 杂诗

Wang Wei (王维, also known as Wang Mojie)｜High Tang｜five-character quatrain

Wang Wei asks only about the plum tree at home.

Original Chinese text with pinyin

君自故乡来
jūn zì gù xiāng lái

应知故乡事
yīng zhī gù xiāng shì

来日绮窗前
lái rì qǐ chuāng qián

寒梅著花未
hán méi zhuó huā wèi

Simplified characters; traditional title: 雜詩.

English translation

You have come from our old home;

You must know how things are there.

The day you left, before my silk window—

Had the winter plum begun to flower?

Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.

Line by line

君自故乡来 · jūn zì gù xiāng lái — You have come from our old home;

应知故乡事 · yīng zhī gù xiāng shì — You must know how things are there.

来日绮窗前 · lái rì qǐ chuāng qián — The day you left, before my silk window—

寒梅著花未 · hán méi zhuó huā wèi — Had the winter plum begun to flower?

Meaning and imagery

Meeting someone from home, the speaker could ask about family, harvests or friends — but asks only about the plum tree by the window. That small, precise question reveals a whole world of affection and memory. The poem shows how the deepest homesickness can attach itself to one tiny detail.

Background

The second of three "Miscellaneous Poems" by Wang Wei.

Key words

绮窗 qǐ chuāng: a window with silk curtains or carved lattice
寒梅 hán méi: winter plum
著花 zhuó huā: to bloom (著 read zhuó)

About the poet: Wang Wei

Wang Wei was a poet, painter, musician and court official. A devout Buddhist, he wrote spare, luminous landscape verse; later critics said there is "a painting in his poems and a poem in his paintings." He is sometimes called the "Buddha of Poetry."

Lifetime: c. 699–761. Other famous works: Miscellaneous Poem (You Have Come from Home) (杂诗); Farewell (Dismounting to Drink) (送别); Autumn Evening in the Mountains (山居秋暝); Longing (相思); Deer Park (鹿柴); Bamboo Grove Retreat (竹里馆); Farewell to Yuan the Second on His Mission to Anxi (送元二使安西); Thinking of My Brothers on the Double Ninth (九月九日忆山东兄弟); Birdsong in the Ravine (鸟鸣涧); Joys of the Countryside (田园乐); Floating on the Han River (汉江临泛); In the Mountains (山中); Farewell in the Mountains (山中送别); Long Rain at Wangchuan (积雨辋川庄作); Magnolia Bank (辛夷坞); Seeing Off Shen Zifu (送沈子福之江东); Reply to Vice-Prefect Zhang (酬张少府); A Quiet Matter (书事); Song of Youth (少年行); My Retreat at Zhongnan (终南别业); Seeing Off Prefect Li of Zizhou (送梓州李使君).