An Ancient Tale of Separation, Longing and Loss:“Chang’an Memories” Revisited

An Ancient Tale of Separation, Longing and Loss: “Chang’an Memories” Revisited

In an epic poem that marks the passage of time with the changing of the seasons,Li Bai, the celebrated Chinese poet, describes the union of a young teenage coupleamidst the great bucolic splendor of historic Chang’an county.In this vintage poem, “Chang’an Memories”, Li Bai speaks through the voice of abeautiful young woman, yearning for her distant lover. In a brilliant description of heart wrenching adolescent emotion, he writes,

When my rst hair began to cover my head,I picked and played with owers at the gate.

Then you came riding on a bamboo horse*.You circled the trail; playing with green plumbs.We lived together, here, in Chang’an.Two little children without even a misgiving.Then when I was fourteen I became your wife.I was so shy my face remained closed.But I bowed my head before the shadowed wall,and called you one thousand times, yet I never turned, not even once.

At fteen I began to lift my brows, and wished to be with you

as dust is with ashes.Yet you always kept your massive pillar faith**.I had no reason to climb to look for you upon any hill.But when I was sixteen you went far far away....to Yandui in the Qutong gorge.

You should not have risked the dangerous oods that come in May.

And now as the sad monkeys cry in the sky, my pacing has left a mark before the gate.And little by little the green grass has grown.

The moss is much to deep to just push away.

And as leaves fall in early autumn winds; in August the butteries are yellow.A pair of them ies over the grass in the western garden. I feel that they are damaging

my heart.My face now grows sad red and old.When you come down the river, send a letter to to your home.We’ll go to meet each other however far.I’ll come to meet you at Changfengsha.A Contemporary Reading of EventsIn a bittersweet story of a young girls’ adolescence, this poem demonstrates the poets’great ability to describe the kind of deep genuine emotion that can cut straight to thebone.

Brimming with playful heartfelt imagery and lled with rugged rustic scenes, its real

value may lie in the human drama that may, like the woman in the poem, encourage usto call into question the foundations upon which our very existence is built.A Massive Pillar Faith

In a tale that calls to mind the spiritual dimensions of a young womans’ rst love, wend a girl awakened by the opening of her heart and soul. Tragically however, this

wonderful feeling soon begins to fade away.Overwhelmed by an emptiness that threatens to ravish her very soul, she searchesonward. But her yearning is followed by pain; a tragic mournful loss.Yet in the end she continues to beckon. But only the poet knows if her true love willever come to return.And Now the Sad Monkeys CryIn a scene in which monkeys are said to be crying in the sky, the young girl isimmersed in her desperate longing and pain. She cries out, but no one can really hearher.And little by little the green grass continues to grow. But the moss is now much too

An Ancient Tale of Separation, Longing and Loss:“Chang’an Memories” Revisited