Wang Wei Loves the Quiet Life

Even if he’s slightly bitter about being forced into it

A Reply to District Defender Zhang
Wang Wei

I find that in my later years,
  I only love the quiet. None
Of my political ideas
  Can benefit the state; I’m done
With caring for this world’s affairs.
  All I can do is run
Back to the woods I came from.

My belt will hang untied, the breeze
  Will sough, the hilltop moon will glow
On my old qin among pine trees.
  I’ll play. You asked me what I know
About success: I know just this—
  A fisherman’s song echoes
All across this land:
  Rinse your hatstrap when the clear waters flow...

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We don’t know who Zhang was.

The last line of the poem is not part of Wang Wei’s poem, but an addition to convey the meaning of the “fisherman’s song.” This was a reference Wang Wei used more than once, and it comes from a story in the Songs of the South, written a thousand years before. The poet and politician Qu Yuan complained to a fisherman that his king was not listening to him, and in reply, the fisherman sang a song: “When the waters of the Canglang are clear, I rinse my hatstraps; when the waters of the Canglang are muddy, I wash my feet.” This song was understood to mean that you can choose to not serve when the situation at court is not favourable.

I was inspired to do this translation by a very nice version that A. Z. Foreman just published, so check out that video, which includes his reading in Tang Chinese.

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酬张少府 王维

晚年唯好静，万事不关心。

自顾无长策，空知返旧林。

松风吹解带，山月照弹琴。

君问穷通理，渔歌入浦深。