Far From The Madding Crowd

While jogging on a cloudy morning…

1 湖心孤舟雲烟鎖 Locked in the mists, trapped in the middle of the lake is a lonely boat,
2 船頭靜聽寒水破 And on the prow, listening quietly to dashing waves against its sides.
3 霧中參透難解語 Now that the undecipherable voices in the fog are fully grasped,
4 隔絕紅塵因為何 Why is it then that I’m still cut off from the red dust?

5 釣儩竿垂不忍棄 Can’t bear to cast away the dangling rod when fishing’s done,
6 曾似陳舊仍未過 Seemed that bygones of once upon a time had yet to pass.
7 無限纖絲纒夢寐 For their endless filigrees still haunt in my dreams,
8 恍若逍遙在山河 As if by being amongst the mountains and rivers wouldst I be free.

1 The lake’s center is taken to mean the human heart with the boat as body, trapped and isolated in a world of unending problems.

2 The prow is used metaphorically to represent the human head to describe the thought process of problem solving.

3 Setting up the scenario for the rhetorical question asked in the next line.

4 Red Dust – Buddhist term for the mundane world.

5 Reluctance to let go of the past. As well not to be seen as an ingrate - 過河拆橋 (crossing the river and dismantling the bridge).

6 Even with solutions, a continual nagging as if the problems had never gone away.

8 山河 also means “the empire” i.e., “If the country is as ideal as nature, then there is relief, allowing experience a sense of freedom, as if being surrounded by the tranquility of nature.

Wednesday, June 28, 2023