"Spring Thoughts" by Li Po, 754 AD In Jen the grass is like green silk threads, in Chin the mulberry bows beneath its leaves. Now while your thoughts are turning home, my longing heart is already breaking. Oh the spring wind is a stranger to me, how does it dare to enter my gauze bed curtain?
	The whimsical sound of this poem made me wonder about its meaning. But when the cook of the Chinese restaurant translated the poem for me, I was at first disappointed to find that these foreign tones turned out to be just an ordinary love story. So I tried to find the reason for my initial interest by exploring the poem further. Then I got captured by it again, not without knowing why anymore, but because of all the stories, and suggestions that are hidden behind these simple lines and characters. Getting into it deeper and deeper I realized the distance between their culture and mine, even though the theme is so universal.
A woman in the southwest awaits her lover who is away in the north. As the northern grass begins to grow, she expects her lover to turn his thoughts towards home, where the mulberry trees are already dark and heavy with foliage. She can no longer contain her longing. In Jen the grass is like green silk threads, Jen was a northern state in ancient China. In 754 AD it was still a remote place, removed from civilization. It was associated with bare fields of grass. At that time, the Great Wall was being built by soldiers who were stationed here, far removed from their homes. The fine green threads indicates the grass in early spring. in Chin the mulberry bows beneath it's leaves. While in Jen the spring has just arrived, here in the southwestern province of Chin, it has already passed. The dark green mulberry trees symbolize summer and reminds one of female presence. In these days women were picking the leaves of the mulberry trees to feed the silkworms. It was their fate to be at home, to work in the silk production, and to await the return of their husbands. Now while your thoughts are turning home, The pictogram for "you" in this sentence also means "prince", or "a gentleman". Someone is wishing that a man (a friend or a lover?) would think of returning home. They are seperated by Jen and Chin, spring and summer, space and time. In this poem, "spring" is a metaphor for the eternal cycle of nature, in contrast with the short, one term life of a human being. For the "gentleman" it is time to think of his return. my longing heart is already breaking. My longing heart... The pictogram for "my" is female. She can't contain her longing any more. The Chinese pictograms for "longing heart" literally mean "intestines are cut out of one's body". She feels as if her intestines were cut out of her body because her lover is not with her. Oh the spring wind is a stranger to me, The spring wind has an erotic meaning in in this verse. It blows through the bed sheets of the woman; it playfully moves and arouses her without her asking for it. But she can't allow herself erotic feelings, because she is alone. how does it dare to enter my gauze bed curtain? The spring wind is a stranger to her. Like an intruder, it enters through her bed curtain and touches her body. It reminds her of her lover. The whole poem is like a wind that turns around, without knowing when and if... The "spring wind" of the last verse connects back to the first verse which describes her husband experiencing spring in Jen. Oh, the spring wind is a stranger to me, how does it dare to enter my gauze bed curtain? In Yen the grass is like green silk threads...