LI Ling
The good time will never come back again:In a moment,--our parting will be over.Anxiously--we halt at the road-side,Hesitating--we embrace where the fields begin.The clouds above are floating across the sky:Swiftly, swiftly passing: or blending together.The waves in the wind lose their fixed placeAnd are rolled away each to a corner of Heaven.From now onwards--long must be our parting.So let us stop again for a little while.I wish I could ride on the wings of the morning windAnd go with you right to your journey’s end.
Li Ling and Su Wu were both prisoners in the land of the Huns. Afternineteen years Su Wu was released. Li Ling would not go back with him.When invited to do so, he got up and danced, singing:
I came ten thousand leaguesAcross sandy desertsIn the service of my Prince,To break the Hun tribes.My way was blocked and barred,My arrows and sword broken.My armies had faded away,My reputation had gone.
My old mother is long dead.Although I want to requite my PrinceHow can I return?
Words in this poem
- blending n.
- The act of mingling.
- ling n.
- Heather (Calluna vulgaris). Ling honey, a sort of wild honey, made from the flowers of the heather. Holland. [Icel. lyng; akin to Dan. lyng, Sw. ljung.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
LI Ling is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, the Arthur Waley translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, LI Ling, in A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waley-chinese/li-ling.html, id L18761.
Form and metre
LI Ling is 26 lines in 4 stanzas. 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ---A---A---- again · over · side · beginA · sky · together · place · heavenA · parting · while · wind · end
- 3 -----A-A leagues · deserts · prince · tribes · barred · brokenA · away · goneA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The good time will never come back again: | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| In a moment,--our parting will be over. | 12 | ··/˘/˘/˘···· |
| Anxiously--we halt at the road-side, | 9 | /˘˘······ |
| Hesitating--we embrace where the fields begin. | 12 | /˘·˘·˘/···˘/ |
| The clouds above are floating across the sky: | 11 | ·····/˘˘/·· |
| Swiftly, swiftly passing: or blending together. | 12 | /˘/˘/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| The waves in the wind lose their fixed place | 9 | ········· |
| And are rolled away each to a corner of Heaven. | 13 | ···˘/···/˘·/˘ |
| From now onwards--long must be our parting. | 11 | ··/˘···/˘/˘ |
| So let us stop again for a little while. | 11 | ····˘/··/˘· |
| I wish I could ride on the wings of the morning wind | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| And go with you right to your journey’s end. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Li Ling and Su Wu were both prisoners in the land of the Huns. After | 18 | ·······/˘˘········ |
| nineteen years Su Wu was released. Li Ling would not go back with him. | 16 | //····˘/········ |
| When invited to do so, he got up and danced, singing: | 14 | ·˘/˘········/˘ |
| I came ten thousand leagues | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Across sandy deserts | 6 | ˘//˘/˘ |
| In the service of my Prince, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| To break the Hun tribes. | 5 | ····· |
| My way was blocked and barred, | 6 | ······ |
| My arrows and sword broken. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| My armies had faded away, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘˘/ |
| My reputation had gone. | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| My old mother is long dead. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Although I want to requite my Prince | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| How can I return? | 5 | ···˘/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.