106 t He Han Dy na s t y
separation. But when she notices how she has wasted away in pining, she awakens
to a different kind of time, one that is measured against her own biological life. To
anyone who treasures life, any passage of time is too swift and any sign of aging
too saddening. Seeing time’s passage in this new light, the wife breaks into this
lament: “Thinking of you makes one old, / Years and months are suddenly gone.”
This dramatic, ironic shift in her perception of time marks the transformation of
her sorrow at separation into melancholy over the hastened process of aging.
If we accept the consensus view that the “Nineteen Old Poems” were written by
a group of disenchanted literati men living in the capital city of Luoyang, we can
say that the author of this poem is adopting the persona of an abandoned woman
as a means of subtly expressing his grievances. In Chinese poetry, a woman aban-
doned by her husband is customarily compared with a scholar-official out of favor
with his ruler or patron (thematic table of contents 2.3). Speaking in the voice of a
frail, abandoned woman, the poet probably intends to express his grief over aban-
donment by his patron, or his forlorn pledge of loyalty in the hope of regaining
his patron’s trust and favor. By foregrounding the issue of aging, he also turns his
political woes into a deeper pain over life’s brevity.
Poems 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, and 15 are poems of the wandering man. Appearing
as weary wanderers, the speakers seem less fictional than the abandoned woman
seen earlier. This is partly because of the disappearance of the gender difference
between speaker and poet and partly because of the presence of some genuine re-
flections about the conditions of the poets’ actual world. In poem 3, for instance,
we find explicit references to the capital city and its major landmarks:C 5. 2
No. 3, Green, Green Grows the Cypress on the HilltopGreen, green grows the cypress on the hilltop, 青青陵上栢 (qīng qīng líng shàng bó)
2 Heap upon heap stand stones in mountain streams. 磊磊磵中石 (lĕi lĕi jiàn zhōng shí)
Between heaven and earth is man’s life, 人生天地間 (rén shēng tiān dì jiān)
4 Rushing like a traveler with a long way to go. 忽如遠行客 (hū rú yuăn xíng kè)
Let this dipper of wine be our entertainment; 斗酒相娛樂 (dŏu jiŭ xiāng yú lè)
6 Little as it is, we do not think little of it. 聊厚不爲薄 (liáo hòu bù wéi bó)
I drive my carriage, whipping my slow horses 驅車策駑馬 (qū chē cè nú mă)
8 To roam and seek pleasure in Wan and Luo. 遊戲宛與洛 (yóu xì wăn yŭ luò)
Here in Luoyang, what a hustle and bustle! 洛中何鬱鬱 (luò zhōng hé yù yù)
10 Those who wear caps and belts chase one another. 冠帶自相索 (guān dài zì xiāng suŏ)
Long thoroughfares flanked with narrow alleys, 長衢羅夾巷 (cháng qú luó jiá xiàng)
12 Mansions of princes and nobles arranged in ranks. 王侯多第宅 (wáng hóu duō dì zhái)
The two palaces look at each other from afar, 兩宮遙相望 (liăng gōng yáo xiāng wàng)
14 Paired towers rise over a hundred feet and more. 雙闕百餘尺 (shuāng quē băi yú chĭ)
Let me feast to my heart’s content, 極宴娛心意 (jí yàn yú xīn yì)
16 Why should I let worries oppress my heart. 戚戚何所迫 (qī qī hé suŏ pò)
[WX 29.1344]