Chinese Classical Poetry - Tumblr Posts

“我住長江頭， 君住長江尾； 日日思君不見君， 共飲長江水。 此水幾時休？ 此恨何時已？ 只願君心似我心， 定不負相思意。 I live upstream and you downstream, From night to night of you I dream. Unlike the stream you are not in view, Though both we drink from River Blue. When will the river no more flow？ When will my grief no more grow？ I wish your heart will be like mine， Then not in vain for you I pine.”

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Song of Divination (卜算子) by Li Zhiyi (李之儀). Song Dynasty.

Born in Wudi County, Shandong, Li Zhiyi was a Song Dynasty Chinese poet and one of Su Shi’s disciples. Song of Divination plays on the theme of lovesickness between men and women. Using the Yangtze River as a metaphor for both distance and unity, the narrator expresses an intense yearning for their lover.

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