Four-Character Poem
A Playful Revision of Jiang Yan’s[1] “Rhapsody on Parting”

(July 1939)

Spring grass of emerald[2] hue,
Spring waters green waves.
Seeing you off from Yan’an,[3]
What joy, oh what joy![4]

[1] Jiang Yan (444–505), writer of the Liang dynasty in the Southern Dynasties, courtesy name Wentong, a native of Kaocheng, Jiyang (east of present-day Lankao, Henan). He served through the Song, Qi, and Liang dynasties. In the Liang dynasty he rose to the position of Grand Master of the Palace with Gold and Purple Seals. Orphaned young, poor and fond of learning, he became famous for his writings early in life. In his later years his literary talent declined, and his poems and prose were not equal to those of his earlier period; people said “Jiang’s talent is exhausted.” His poems are mostly imitations of ancient works. Among his rhapsodies, “Rhapsody on Regret” and “Rhapsody on Parting” are the most famous. He originally had a collected works, now lost; later scholars compiled the Collected Works of Jiang Wentong.

[2] Emerald, bluish green.

[3] You. Yan’an, at that time the seat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. “Seeing you off from Yan’an” means bidding farewell in Yan’an to comrades heading to the anti-Japanese front lines or to various places across the country to undertake revolutionary work.

[4] Joy, happiness, delight. A grammatical particle without substantive meaning. “What joy” means “how joyful,” akin to saying “utterly joyful!”