游子吟 Song of the Wanderer [Meng Jiao] (Tang)

Sarah · Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 98 Location: London

cí mǔ shǒu zhōng xiàn ， yóu zǐ shēn shàng yī 。
慈母手中线，游子身上衣。

lín xíng mì mì féng ，yì kǒng chí chí guī 。
临行密密缝，意恐迟迟归。

shuí yán cùn cǎo xīn ， bào dé sān chūn huī 。
谁言　寸草心，　报得三春晖。

Song of the Wanderer

Meng Jiao (Tang)

The thread moves in the hand of the mother kind,
To weave a garment for the wanderer to wear.
As the mother plies the needle with much care,
Anxiety for her son's tarry out so troubles her mind.
Oh, can the tender plant have enough to pay,
For the sunshine of so many a spring day?

Comment
By presenting the everyday scene of Mother sewing the garment
for her departing son, the poet glorifies the greatest universal love in
the world--a mother' s cherishes for her children. The poem comes in
three couplets, with the first couplet describing the details such as the
thread in the fond mother's hand, the son's garment and the next two
ones showing the concept from abstract to concrete. All this goes to
show Mother' s deep love and care for her son, the son' s memory of
his mother' s kindness and his distress at leaving home and failure to
repay Mother's goodness. The verse evokes response in all children' s
hearts as well as their profound love for mothers. The last line rings
the message loud in the ears of the reader: who would say that he can
give enough to pay off the debts of gratitude to Mother? It also raises
the question: how should children care for their loving parents who
take pains to bring them up?