Wei Zhuang observes the impermanence of human affairs

The once-great city of Jinling offers a stark reminder

Taicheng, Centre of Power for Six Nations
Wei Zhuang

The river is a block of grasses,
The river rain as soft as lace;
Six kingdoms were a dream that passes,
Now birds sing hymns to empty space.
How callous are the weeping willows,
Indifferent to what history has done:
For miles, their filmy curtain billows,
Just as it did in old Taicheng.

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Wei Zhuang lived right at the end of the Tang Dynasty, from 836 to 910.

This poem records a visit to the pre-Tang palace of Taicheng, which was in the city of Jinling, today Nanjing. This city had been the capital of many short-lived local dynasties in the interregnum between the Han Dynasty and the Tang. Traditionally historians count six states that had their capital at Taicheng, so the reference to “six kingdoms” in the poem would be instantly evocative to Wei’s readers.

Wei contrasts the unchanging vivacity and richness of nature with the declining fortunes of human affairs. It’s an elegant poem; if only Du Fu had not written the last word on this theme in his A Vision of Springtime.

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韦庄  台城

江雨霏霏江草齐，六朝如梦鸟空啼。

无情最是台城柳，依旧烟笼十里堤。