Meng Jiao sees politics in the cold river

And confuses future readers

Chill River (1)
Meng Jiao

The hazy rains are cleared by frost,
The cold creek shows its thready fish,
By luck I find some mirrored sky
And look into my shrivelled self.
Nothing hides the scree below,
The river bed is crystal bright
As motives in an honest man—
And yet it can be treacherous:
I’ve had to learn that vulgar hearts
Have night ice form, but melt at dawn.
Scoop up this sparkling jade and wash,
Cleanse yourself of dust and doubts!
To those who walk in muddy water:
Don’t approach this pure, high spring.

孟郊  寒溪·其一
霜洗水色尽，寒溪见纤鳞。
幸临虚空镜，照此残悴身。
潜滑不自隐，露底莹更新。
豁如君子怀，曾是危陷人。
始明浅俗心，夜结朝已津。
净漱一掬碧，远消千虑尘。
始知泥步泉，莫与山源邻。

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Translating Meng Jiao is a reminder that nobody knows nothing. I found two sets of notes on this poem, giving completely different explanations for what the middle section means. I took the only logical course of action, which is to interpret it in a different way again.

(For those who care about the details: in one reading the second character of the fourth line is 滑, as it’s written, meaning slippery; in another, it’s an alternate character for 淈, meaning a mess of stuff. The final character of the fifth line, meanwhile, may mean either ford or liquid/melt.)

My version makes sense, I think - which fills me with great worry. Meng Jiao often throws a profusion of images into his poems which don’t always seem to make coherent sense. So I worry that I’m still missing something. But this is the best interpretation I can give.

Notes on the content:

Haze and clearness form a contrast that Chinese poets and painters alike have loved to play with. Usually in poetry, the haze clearing is a good thing: no more rain, warmer weather, etc. In this poem Meng reverses that relation by having frost freeze away the mist.

In the middle section, Meng is pursuing a complex mixed metaphor in which the ice can be transparent (and so good); but can also be deceptive and treacherous.

By the end he has reassured himself that he is one of the good guys, and is admonishing the vulgar types mentioned earlier.