Another Spring

White birds over the grey river.
Scarlet flowers on the green hills.
I watch the Spring go by and wonder
If I shall ever return home.

Tu Fu

Exile in Japan

On the balcony of the tower
I play my flute and watch
The Spring rain.
I wonder
If I ever
Will go home and see
The tide bore
In Chekiang River again.
Straw sandals, an old
Begging bowl, nobody
Knows me. On how many bridges have I trampled
The fallen cherry blossoms?

 Su Manshu

Tu Fu (713- 770) was a prominent poet of the Tang Dynasty and is considered one of the greatest Chinese poets. His life was disrupted by the rebellion of 755 and the last 15 years of his life were a time of almost constant unrest.

Su Manshu (1884 – 1918) was a Chinese writer, poet, painter, revolutionary and translator. He became a Buddhist monk and traveled to many Buddhist countries. He was involved in revolutionary activities against the Qing dynasty and died at the age of 34.

We often think of spring as a time of hope and new beginnings but in these two short poems we see a different view of spring – not a time of looking forward but of looking back. In both cases our poets are away from home and the tone of their reflection is one of sadness and longing.

Tu Fu paints a vivid picture of the energies of spring. But rather than participating in this action, the poet is removed and distant, an observer. His longing for home has set him apart from the flow of life and the present.

In “Exile” we see a man playing his flute on the balcony of a tower – looking down on life. Is he to spend the rest of his life in exile – even as a monk nobody knows? Has the poet trampled the promise and fulfillment of spring by constantly traveling for so many years?

For these two poets, spring does not offer a time of promise and hope, but of loss and longing. Their dissatisfaction with life as it is now holds them in the past and takes away the joy of the present.