This spring morning I lie sad on my bed in white insulated clothes.
The white door 1 is barren and I am sorrowful.
2
I feel cold as I watch the red tower 3 through
the rain.
When I went home last night after sending you off,
The rain fell like a pearl curtain and street lamps seemed to drift in the
air.
During your long journey, you should lament the sunset as I do.
Early in the morning I remembered that we met in my dream.
How can I send you my love letter and the jade earrings?
Even if I could find such a kind goose 4,
How can it pierce through a thousand mile of dense clouds 5?
1
Here the white door refers in general to lovers' secret rendezvous. It
comes from a folk song of the South dynasty, "Yang, the Traitorous Daughter": "I
step out the white door for a while/ And hide behind the willow trees./ I would
love to be the fragrance submerged in water./ And you would be the huge furnace
in the mountain."
2
The first two lines hint that Li hardly slept during the night.
3
The red tower was the place where Li’s lover used to live.
4
This refers to a legend from the time of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220
A.D.). In 100 B.C., after a period of peace between Hungary and the Han dynasty
of China, the King of Hungary detained Ambassador Wu Su of China. This started a
war (99 B.C) which lasted 18 years. When they agreed to a truce, the Emperor of
China sent an envoy to inquire about Wu Su. The King of Hungary first denied any
knowledge of the affair. The envoy made up a story by saying, "The Emperor of
China received a letter that Wu had tied to the leg of a wild goose." The King
of Hungary then admitted to his fault and released Wu Su. Later, in their
fiction, Chinese writers often used a wild goose as a means of delivering
letters.
5
Here dense clouds refer to the obstacle of traditional taboos.