Wang Wei (699-759) was a native of Taiyuan in present-day Shanxi Province. He held important posts at the court of the Tang dynasty Emperor Xuanzong, where he was for a time Master of Music. Later, he served at Liangzhou on the northwestern frontier. Wang Wei won fame as a poet and a painter and spent many years studying Chan Buddhism. In this poem, which was often depicted in paintings and set to music, he writes of the sorrow he feels on farewelling a friend of his who is departing on an official mission to western lands far from the court.
陽關三疊 王維 | yáng guān sān dié | Three partings for Yang guan by Wang Wei |
送院二使安西 | Song yuan èr shǐ ānxī | Seeing off Yuan er on his mission to Kucha |
渭城朝雨浥輕塵， | Wèichéng zhāo yǔ yìqīng chén | City on the Wei River, morning rain wets light dust. |
客舍青青柳色新 | Kèshè qīngqīng liǔsè xīn. | At the guesthouse, green green the new colours of the willows. |
勸君更盡一杯酒。 | Quàn jūn gēng jìn yī bēi jiǔ, | Have one more cup of wine! |
西出陽關無故人。 | Xī chū yáng guān, wú gǔ rén. | When you go out west through Yang Pass, there will be no old friends. |
"Farewell Picture of Folding Willows" by Fu Baoshi (傅抱石) (1904-1965)