Home › Poems › Miscellaneous Poem (You Have Come from Home)
Zá ShīMiscellaneous Poem (You Have Come from Home) 杂诗
Wang Wei asks only about the plum tree at home.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
君自故乡来
jūn zì gù xiāng lái
应知故乡事
yīng zhī gù xiāng shì
来日绮窗前
lái rì qǐ chuāng qián
寒梅著花未
hán méi zhuó huā wèi
Simplified characters; traditional title: 雜詩.
English translation
You have come from our old home;
You must know how things are there.
The day you left, before my silk window—
Had the winter plum begun to flower?
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Meeting someone from home, the speaker could ask about family, harvests or friends — but asks only about the plum tree by the window. That small, precise question reveals a whole world of affection and memory. The poem shows how the deepest homesickness can attach itself to one tiny detail.
Background
The second of three "Miscellaneous Poems" by Wang Wei.
Key words
- 绮窗 qǐ chuāng
- a window with silk curtains or carved lattice
- 寒梅 hán méi
- winter plum
- 著花 zhuó huā
- to bloom (著 read zhuó)
About the poet: Wang Wei
Wang Wei was a poet, painter, musician and court official. A devout Buddhist, he wrote spare, luminous landscape verse; later critics said there is "a painting in his poems and a poem in his paintings." He is sometimes called the "Buddha of Poetry."
Lifetime: c. 699–761. Other famous works: Miscellaneous Poem (You Have Come from Home) (杂诗); Farewell (Dismounting to Drink) (送别); Autumn Evening in the Mountains (山居秋暝); Longing (相思); Deer Park (鹿柴); Bamboo Grove Retreat (竹里馆); Farewell to Yuan the Second on His Mission to Anxi (送元二使安西); Thinking of My Brothers on the Double Ninth (九月九日忆山东兄弟).
Names from this poem
More by Wang Wei
- Farewell to Yuan Er on His Mission to Anxi送元二使安西
- Deer Park鹿柴
- Bamboo Grove Retreat竹里馆
- Thinking of My Brothers on the Double Ninth九月九日忆山东兄弟
- Farewell (Dismounting to Drink)送别
- Autumn Evening in the Mountains山居秋暝
- Longing相思