This ancient Chinese poem is a popular love song. With ardent and unrestrained passion, it expresses a will as solid as a rock for an eternal love that shakes the earth and deeply moves the heart. It has a very intense romantic atmosphere. Dating back to the Han era (around 202 BC - 8 AD), the author is unknown.
“Oh Heavens! (Heaven Is My Witness)” Anonymous (Taken from "The Kingdom of Chinese Poetry" p. 113)
I long to know you intimately
Forever, without end or decline
When mountains lose their peaks
When rivers run dry
When thunder roars in winter
When snow falls in summer
When heaven and earth merge as one
Only then will I dare part from you
The poem uses natural landscapes as its main subject and is filled with deep emotions and extraordinary ideas. It has an elegant and vigorous writing style, with words that flow melodiously. With ardent and unrestrained passion, it expresses a will as solid as a rock for an eternal love that shakes the earth and deeply moves the heart. As Hu Yinglin (1551–1602) said, "It speaks of love in a divine way, a masterpiece in its brevity."
“Drinking Wine (V)” by Tao Yuanming (Taken from "The Kingdom of Chinese Poetry" p. 137)
I built my hut among the people
Yet there is no noise of carts or horses
You ask, how can this be?
If the heart is far from the world, so too will be the place where I dwell
Gathering chrysanthemums by the eastern fence
In the carefree tranquility, the southern mountain appears
At sunset, the mountain's spirit radiates beauty
Flocks of birds return home
In all of this, there is a True Meaning
But if I try to explain it, the words vanish
This poem is a perfect example of Tao Yuanming’s artistic style, with a natural and affectionate tone. Its deep imagination and enchanting atmosphere leave a lasting impression. The poet, free from the worries of the world, falls in love with the peaceful and idyllic life of the countryside, expresses his feelings through nature, describes his life of hard work and drinking to the point of drunkenness, admires and praises the beauty of the southern mountain, and understands the meaning of life from it. For many centuries, “the southern mountain” became the utopia in the hearts of intellectuals. Su Shi (1037-1101) in his “After Drinking. A Poem of Tao Yuanming” states, “‘I was gathering chrysanthemums and so the mountain appeared’ , the sensitive evokes the transcendent, this sentence is truly wonderful. In recent years, the common saying is ‘look at the southern mountain’, so the whole poem loses its spirit“. Sun Yuefeng (1543-1613) in his ”Detailed Annotations on Literary Selection (Volume 15)“ says, ”This poem is wonderfully evocative, points to the transcendent state of mind, the ‘true mind’ and leaves a deep impression on the reader."
