I was refining a line in a previous poem about the Seventh Night and suddenly this line came barging into my head…
人間又唱楊妃夢
1 大唐天子富無窮The emperor of Great Tang is rich beyond dreams,
2馬嵬白綾淚染紅But on the slopes of Mawei the white sash is drench in tears of red.
3 七夕誓約長生許 On the Seventh Night, a vow made in the Palace of Eternal Life,
4 民間又唱楊妃夢 And now among the common masses, they sing of the Lady Yang’s dream.
1 Referring to the Tang Hsuan Tsung.
2 When the rebellion of An Lu Shan was approaching Changan, the emperor went on an “inspection tour” of the Szechuan province. At Mawei Slope, the imperial guards refused to move on unless the Emperor’s favorite was allowed to hang herself on a white sash of three feet long. They believed she and her family were the cause of their current plight. In order to save his skin, the emperor had no choice but to acquiesced to their demand.
3 Without any given context or those familiar with the allusions, the line means “On the Seventh Night, a pledge was made that they are allowed by heaven to have a long life together”. Here “Eternal Life” is the name of the Palace. On their last Seventh Night together, they pledged their unending love for each other. How ironic that a few months later, the rebellion came…
4 The love between Emperor Hsuan Tsung and Yang Guifei became a celebrated theme in Chinese poetry, plays and operas. Po Chu-I had immortalized them in his famous poem, 長恨歌 “The Song of Unending Sorrow”.
Saturday, August 14, 2021
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