ChineseStudy

288. The Jade Pool | Li Shangyin

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English translation

The Queen Mother of the West opens her figured window at the Jade Pool; the song of the Yellow Bamboo moves the earth with grief.

The Jade Pool is the mythical home of the Queen Mother of the West; the Queen Mother is Xi Wangmu, and she opens her figured window as if leaning out to wait. The song of the Yellow Bamboo draws on the Tale of King Mu of Zhou: on a southern journey King Mu met snow and wind and made the Yellow Bamboo song in pity for those suffering cold. That the song moves the earth with grief tells both its sorrow and, underneath, the disappointment of one who waits.

His eight steeds covered thirty thousand li a day; why has King Mu never come again?

The eight steeds are King Mu's famous horses, said to travel thirty thousand li a day, the extreme of speed. King Mu once journeyed west to the Jade Pool to meet the Queen Mother and promised to return. Why has he not come again ends on a question: if his horses were so swift, why did he break his word? The answer is that King Mu was mortal and died—so long life and reunion were illusions. The poem uses the myth to mock the pursuit of immortality.

赏析 · Commentary

神话背后的一问 · The Question Behind the Myth

前两句把西王母写得像一个等不到人的女子：窗儿开着，歌声哀切。后两句点出周穆王的车马本可一日万里，却再没有来。这一问表面是问穆王，实际是问“长生不死”到底有没有。诗人不正面驳斥求仙，只用一个迟迟不来的人就把话说尽。

The opening couplet makes the Queen Mother like a woman who waits and waits: the window open, the song grieving. The closing couplet notes that King Mu's horses could cross ten thousand li in a day, yet he never came again. The question seems to ask about King Mu but really asks whether immortality exists at all. The poet never argues against the quest for long life; one person who never arrives says it all.

等的人为什么不来 · Why the Waited-For Never Comes

穆王与西王母的故事本是神仙传说，李商隐却把它还原成人间的情事：一个开窗等待，一个约定重来。八骏再快也没用，因为穆王是凡人之躯，终有一死。晚唐帝王多好神仙方术，这首诗的讽意，正藏在那句看似天真的“何事不重来”里。

The tale of King Mu and the Queen Mother belongs to immortal lore, but Li Shangyin reduces it to a human affair: one waits by an open window, one promises to return. However fast the eight steeds, they are useless, for King Mu is mortal and must die. The late Tang emperors were fond of immortals and elixirs, and the satire of this poem hides in the seemingly innocent words why has he not come again.

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