My hermitage is put up in a town, yet undistracted by horses or crowd
You ask how it can be; I say a moored mind is a haven quiet and peace
Picking wildflowers on the east, I catch a glimpse of the distant peak
The afternoon air suffused with sunset light
Birds taking on a homebound flight
In every line of life
you read the truth
One knows it in heart, but words have no clue
~ Translated from Tao Yuanming’s “Wine-Drinking,” a poem written in the Six Dynasties period
結廬在人境 而無車馬喧 問君何能爾 心遠地自偏
採菊東籬下 悠然見南山 山氣日夕佳 飛鳥相與還
此中有真意 欲辨已忘言
~ 陶淵明 (東晉末至南北朝) 《飲酒詩》
TaoYuanming, born in 365 AD and died in 427 AD, is a major figure in China’s long history of poetry. Being disappointed with the political reality in his era, he decided to withdraw from public service and spent much of his life in reclusion, writing poetry to reflect on the beauty of countryside and simple life. He is considered the pioneer of recluse poetry, and his works a paragon of the ‘Fields and Gardens’ genre, an important poetic movement in classical Chinese literature.
