Meng Haoran: At Dongting Lake: Send to Yan the Ninth

At Dongting Lake: Send to Yan the Ninth

洞 庭 湖 寄 阎 九

洞 庭 秋 正 阔
余 欲 泛 归船 。
莫 辨 荆 吴 地
唯 馀 水 共 天。

渺 猕 江 树 没
合 沓 海 湖 连。
迟 尔 为 舟 楫
相 将 济 巨 川。

Dong Ting Hu Ji Yan Jiu

Dong ting qiu zheng kuo
Yu yu fan gui chuan。
Mo bian jing wu di
Wei yu shui gong tian。

Miao mi jiang shu mei
He ta hai hu lian
Chi er wei zhou ji
Xiang jiang ji ju chuan

At Dongting Lake: Send to Yan the Ninth

Autumn and Dongting Lake pure and vast
I want to float slowly in the boat on the way home                              Cannot distinguish which shore is Jing and which is Wu                                 Can only see where the water meets the sky

Water so vast cannot see any trees                                                           River and lake waters crowded together                                                     Wait for your boat oars to appear
Hope we together can cross another river in a very large boat

Notes:

Dongting Lake: On the Hubei-Hunan border

Yan the Ninth: A friend who has passed the imperial exams. Assigned a government position, but then exiled to a lower position after just a few years.