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Tang Dynasty Gushi Wang Wei

A Farewell: Returning to the Mountains

送別

Sòng bié

A parting drink and a few questions give way to the endless clouds of a chosen retreat. Read the Chinese, pinyin, word meanings, and original English translation.

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About the text and pronunciation

The simplified view changes character forms, not the edition. Notes and sources retain the cited text.

The Chinese source is shown in traditional characters by default, with a simplified view available. Pinyin is modern standard Mandarin, a reading aid, not Tang or Song pronunciation.

Word by word, in the order of the line. A gloss is a crib. It is not the translation.

01

下馬飲君酒，

xià mǎ yìn jūn jiǔ

Dismounting, I offer you wine,

Word meanings — Line 1
  1. 下馬 xià mǎ dismount
  2. 飲 yìn offer a drink
  3. 君 jūn you
  4. 酒 jiǔ wine
02

問君何所之。

wèn jūn hé suǒ zhī

and ask where you are going.

Word meanings — Line 2
  1. 問君 wèn jūn ask you
  2. 何所 hé suǒ what place
  3. 之 zhī go to
03

君言不得意，

jūn yán bù dé yì

You say that things have not gone as you hoped,

Word meanings — Line 3
  1. 君言 jūn yán you say
  2. 不得意 bù dé yì not attain one's wishes
04

歸臥南山陲。

guī wò nán shān chuí

and you will return to rest by the southern mountains.

Word meanings — Line 4
  1. 歸 guī return
  2. 臥 wò lie down or withdraw
  3. 南山 nán shān southern mountains
  4. 陲 chuí edge
05

但去莫復問，

dàn qù mò fù wèn

Go, then; let there be no more questioning.

Word meanings — Line 5
  1. 但去 dàn qù just go
  2. 莫 mò do not
  3. 復問 fù wèn ask again
06

白雲無盡時。

bái yún wú jìn shí

The white clouds have no time of ending.

Word meanings — Line 6
  1. 白雲 bái yún white clouds
  2. 無盡 wú jìn without end
  3. 時 shí time

English translation by PoemWell.

Read the whole poem

Original

下馬飲君酒，

問君何所之。

君言不得意，

歸臥南山陲。

但去莫復問，

白雲無盡時。

Translation

Dismounting, I offer you wine,

and ask where you are going.

You say that things have not gone as you hoped,

and you will return to rest by the southern mountains.

Go, then; let there be no more questioning.

The white clouds have no time of ending.

Try it from memory

After reading, recall the underlined word or phrase in each line. Say its meaning before opening the answer. These prompts use the text edition printed above.

  1. Line 1 · What does the marked word mean?

    下馬飲君酒，

    Pronunciation hint

    xià mǎ

    Reveal meaning and translation

    下馬 — dismount

    Dismounting, I offer you wine,

  2. Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?

    歸臥南山陲。

    Pronunciation hint

    nán shān

    Reveal meaning and translation

    南山 — southern mountains

    and you will return to rest by the southern mountains.

  3. Line 6 · What does the marked word mean?

    白雲無盡時。

    Pronunciation hint

    bái yún

    Reveal meaning and translation

    白雲 — white clouds

    The white clouds have no time of ending.

One more question: what changes?

Compare the opening and closing lines. What changes in the scene, the speaker’s attention, or the feeling? Choose a Chinese word as evidence, then compare your reading with the notes. More than one answer may be reasonable.

Line-by-line notes →

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Line-by-line notes

Lines 1–2 · A drink and a question

下馬 sets the exchange on the road. 飲 is read yìn, giving someone a drink, so 君 is the recipient of the wine. The two lines use 君 to address the friend directly. In 何所之, 之 is the verb “go,” and the phrase asks where the friend is headed.

Lines 3–4 · The destination in the answer

君言 introduces the friend's account. 不得意 conveys hopes that have come to nothing, leaving their particulars open. 歸臥 gives that disappointment a physical resolution, going back to rest at the edge of the southern mountains (南山陲). English supplies “you will” to make the friend's intended move readable across the two lines.

Lines 5–6 · Questions give way to clouds

但去 is heard here as a permission to go. 莫復問 closes off further questions, though the unmarked dialogue leaves some room over whose words we are hearing. The English “let there be no more questioning” keeps that room. 白雲無盡時 gives the last line an indefinite time. The road encounter is brief, while the clouds suggest something that will remain available after the friend has left.

Form and tone

Six five-character lines make a short ancient-style poem, not a four-line quatrain or an eight-line regulated verse. Repeated 君 gives the first half the rhythm of direct address. The final cloud image replaces the human question-and-answer pattern.

See the ancient-style verse guide for the form. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; no unverified historical tone grid is supplied.

Historical context

Wang Wei has more than one poem called 送別. The opening 下馬飲君酒 identifies this one. It lets a social departure become a movement toward retreat, while refusing to turn the friend’s disappointment into a fully documented career story.

Continue with Wang Wei or the farewell shelf.

Sources

Chinese text compared with 送別, public transcription on Wikisource. Punctuation is editorial; the English translation and reading notes are original to PoemWell.

English translation, gloss, and notes by PoemWell. The translation is original to this site.

The Chinese source is shown in traditional characters by default, with a simplified view available. Pinyin is modern standard Mandarin, a reading aid, not Tang or Song pronunciation.

Updated .

Cite this reading

Wang Wei. “A Farewell: Returning to the Mountains” (送別). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .

https://poemwell.org/poems/farewell-return-to-the-mountains

Credit the poet for the Chinese original and PoemWell for this translation and commentary. Use the permanent page link above; source editions are listed separately.