Nursery rhyme perfection, adult emotion
He Zhizhang's bittersweet return home
Lines on Returning to my Home Town
He Zhizhang
(1)
A young boy when I went away,
That hometown brogue remains. My tongue still sings,
But I am changed and gray.
The village children laugh and play
To see an unknown face. They ask what brings
A stranger round this way.
(2)
I left so many years ago,
Returning, I find names and places gone,
And friends I used to know.
But Mirror Pond is still just so,
Its ripples shine the way they always shone,
The same spring breezes blow.
贺知章 回乡偶书
其一
少小离家老大回，乡音无改鬓毛衰。
儿童相见不相识，笑问客从何处来。
其二
离别家乡岁月多，近来人事半消磨。
惟有门前镜湖水，春风不改旧时波。