Jiao Tong observes that the poem, while exposing the desire on
the speaker’s part for the nomadic existence, indicates that he “lacks
the real power to become a drifter” (Jiao 1999: 290). The crux of the
poem resides in the subject’s ambivalence toward leaving his home-
land, a venture that offers excitement and fresh opportunities but at
the same time inevitably entails feelings of homesickness. There is
tension in the imagery between stasis, as represented by the chrysan-
themums (a flower associated with funerals), and action as shown by
the fact that the subject has traveled a long way to get to this border
crossing. There also is tension between the competing emotions
behind “what he wouldn’t give to.. .” and “longing [for home]”
鄉愁. That he turns to drink—itself an action of sorts, even if an action
that allows one to attempt to escape from the realities one faces—
underscores his ambivalence. To “soberly down his drink” 醒著 酒
is a pivotal oxymoron and indicates the complexity of the subject’s
emotions. Common sense dictates that one drinks precisely to leave a
sober state, to blur one’s perception and blunt one’s senses. But in this
case, the subject is clear-headed and wide awake. The subject cannot
put aside what has gotten him this far or what the road ahead may
entail. Of course, we know that he is a habitual drinker, as he is a will-
ing taxpayer. Since alcohol at the time of writing was taxed onerously,
this figure of speech became synonymous with heavy drinkers. The
subject upbraids himself for not taking action, for not embarking on
this new and perilous trip across the border. He entertains the idea
that, like the lovely yet stationery chrysanthemums, he may hanker
after adventure but drink or sing instead. The use of the chrysanthe-
mums here is a wonderful pathetic fallacy as they “merely verge on the
borderline, standing”祇憑øù著. The image of the same sun being
split 分ùhighlights the fact that nature itself knows no such borders.
It is humans that construct these artificial demarcations. The charac-
teristic rhythmic quality of Zheng’s is felt through the repetition, for
example, of huozhe 或者meaning “perhaps” or “or.” Singing, like
drinking, is an action, but not one that will garner concrete results. But
just as we already know the subject enjoys his drink, we can assume by
the poem itself that he loves the role of the bard, a minstrel of sorts.
But singing is still an action of some kind, a creative action that is
placed on par not just with drinking but with roaming as well.
Looking back at the image of the chrysanthemums, we see that they
not only just stand there, and in that sense come to symbolize the
stationary, but they are silent as well. So there is some room for
maneuver in contrast to complete stasis on the one hand and plunging
Zheng Chouyu and Lyric Poetry 43