Blame the birds
They're interfering with our love
A Spring Complaint Jin Changxu Shoo the golden oriole, Forbid his treetop tweeting! Bid the birds do not disturb A lady as she’s sleeping. Birds that keen burst my dreams Before I can cross the Liao. How can I chase his distant face With orioles on the bough? 金昌绪 春怨 打起黄莺儿，莫教枝上啼。 啼时惊妾梦，不得到辽西。
Last time we were parting; today we are parted. This is the only extant poem by Jin Changxu, about whom nothing is known. He lived in the first half of the 9th century, so late Tang.
This poem illustrates how Tang poets wrote about popular themes without mentioning them directly. The speaker in this poem is a wife whose husband is serving in the military. Spring is a time for love, so she misses him particularly at this moment. Orioles pair up in the spring, so they remind her of what she’s missing. The last two lines of my translation help to explain to the modern reader what’s going on. “His face” doesn’t appear in the source, but it would have been obvious to Tang Dynasty readers that she’s dreaming of a husband on tour.
The River Liao is in western China. Once you cross the Liao, you would be in the borderlands, which is where soldiers go.