Su Dongpo, Part 2

In this episode, we explore a poem by Su Dongpo. This poem was critical of changes to the salt monopoly, one of the Song state’s main sources of revenue. Su worried that this was impoverishing people (though Wang Anshi, Su Dongpo’s political and poetic opponent, was actually more of an advocate for the poor). This poem was used in the court case where the Song Emperor exiled Su Dongpo to the barbaric south (Guangdong and nearby regions, which at that time, were not considered as part of China, and today, many of my friends in Beijing still wonder…).

Lee’s Translation:

Mountain Village, Third in a Cycle of Five Poems

The Old Man, seventy, picks the sickle up from his waist 

It is a shame that, in the spring mountains, he is forced to taste the sweetness of the bamboo shoots and the bracken

Is it that he has heard the music of Shao [and thus become enlightened] and forgotten to even worry about eating?

No, actually, these past three months, he has just had no salt eat his food with [and thus is going hungry].

Original:

老翁七十自腰镰，

惭愧春山笋蕨甜. 

岂是闻韵解忘味，

迩来三月食无盐。