When clouds part over Mount Heng, the gloom ceases; in springtime groves, celestial horses and phoenixes appear. A youthful brilliance rivals the talents of Qu Yuan and Jia Yi[2]; this land’s wondrous spirit has long been concentrated here. As you set forth, I raise a mighty song—henceforth shall the kunpeng cleave the waves. Dongting Lake and the Xiang River swell till they meet the sky; great warships point straight eastward. Suddenly, a whole day’s sorrow scatters abroad, yet by good fortune the east wind bears it far across ten thousand li. What concern should a man have? Let him regard the universe as but a grain of millet. The raging seas—why should we fear them? The tumultuous affairs of the world—why waste our minds upon them? Attend only to your own body and mind; within your breast, the sun and moon remain ever new and beautiful. Fame has endured for five hundred years to this day[4]; all these worthies, bustling about, are but mere juniors[5]. Before the Temple of Calming Waves, friendships abound; between Chongming Island and Tsushima lies but a narrow strip of water[6]. From the Eastern Isles[7], having bathed his sword in purifying waters, he returns with letters; I turn back from the cliff, while you go your way[8].

This poem is printed according to the September 1986 edition of Selected Poems and Lyrics of Mao Zedong.

Notes

[1] “Zongyu Yilang” was the Japanese name Luo Zhanglong adopted when he planned to go to Japan in 1918. The New People’s Society held a banquet at the Temple of Calming Waves, just outside the northern gate of Changsha, to see him off. This took place around early summer of that year. Mao Zedong composed this poem to bid him farewell. However, after Luo arrived in Shanghai, circumstances prevented his departure. The poem was first published in Issue 10 of Party History Research Materials in 1979, and later included as an appendix in the 1986 edition of Selected Poems and Lyrics of Mao Zedong. See Note [1] on page 555 of this book.

[2] “Qu” refers to Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan (c. 340–c. 278 BCE), whose given name was Ping and style name was Yuan, was a native of the Warring States–era state of Chu. He initially served under King Huai of Chu as Left Tutor and Grand Minister of the Three Clans. Later he was dismissed, exiled, and spent many years wandering through the Yuan and Xiang river basins. Deeply disillusioned by the corruption of the Chu court and unable to realize his political ideals for saving his country from ruin, he ultimately cast himself into the Miluo River and died. His major works include “Li Sao,” “Heavenly Questions,” and “Nine Songs,” among others. “Jia” refers to Jia Yi of the Han dynasty; see Note [7] on page 61 of this book.

[3] “Chongmeng” is also written as “Mengchong.”

[4] “Fame has endured for five hundred years to this day” is a phrase found in Mencius, Book II, Section 2: “Every five hundred years there will surely arise a sage-king; in the interval there will always be men of outstanding fame.”

[5] “All these worthies, bustling about, are but mere juniors” is a line from the Biography of Ni Heng in the Book of the Later Han: “He often said, ‘The eldest son is Kong Wenju [Rong]; the younger is Yang Dezhu [Xiu]. The rest are merely busybodies, hardly worth mentioning.’”

[6] Chongming Island at the mouth of the Yangtze River and the Tsushima Strait in Japan are separated only by a narrow stretch of water, no wider than a sash. According to the Nan Shi, Chronicle of Emperor Houzhu of Chen, Emperor Wen of Sui remarked that Sui and Chen were divided only by “a single sash of water,” likening the Yangtze River to a belt.

[7] “Eastern Isles” originally referred to the East Sea, but later came to denote Japan.

[8] “I turn back from the cliff, while you go your way” is a phrase from Zhuangzi, Chapter “Mountains and Woods”: “Those who see him off all return from the cliff’s edge, while he goes far away from then on!”