Book of Songs
Ru Fen
Anonymous
遵彼汝坟
伐其条枚
未见君子
惄如调饥
遵彼汝坟
伐其条肄
既见君子
不我遐弃
鲂鱼赪尾
王室如毁
虽则如毁
父母孔迩
Translation
Along the banks of the Ru River, I cut the branches from the trees. Before I had seen my lord, my heart ached like long hunger. Along the banks of the Ru River, I cut the new-grown shoots. Now that I have seen my lord, he has not cast me far away. The bream's tail has reddened; the royal service burns like fire. Though it burns like fire, father and mother are very near.
Analysis
"Ru Fen" is a poem from the "Zhou Nan" section of the Book of Songs. It is often read against the background of forced service or royal labor. The poem begins with a woman cutting branches along the Ru River, but its emotional center is her longing for her absent husband, her relief at seeing him, and the heavy pressure of public duty and family obligation. The opening image is plain and concrete: the speaker walks along the bank of the Ru River and cuts branches. This labor scene is not just background. Its repetition gives form to waiting, anxiety, and emotional endurance. "Before I had seen my lord, my heart ached like long hunger" expresses longing in strongly physical terms. The absent man is not merely missed; his absence feels like hunger. This is one of the powerful features of the Book of Songs: emotional states are often rendered through bodily sensation and ordinary action. The second stanza repeats the riverbank labor but changes the emotional condition. Now she has seen him. "He has not cast me far away" suggests relief after fear. His long absence had created anxiety, perhaps even fear of abandonment. Seeing him resolves that anxiety, at least temporarily. The final stanza turns toward a harsher social reality. "The bream's tail has reddened" is usually read as an image of exhaustion, heat, or strain. "The royal service burns like fire" suggests that service to the royal house is oppressive and consuming. The poem is no longer only about private longing; it is also about the demands placed on ordinary people. The final line, "father and mother are very near," adds another layer. Even though royal labor is painful, parents remain close and must be cared for. The speaker's world is shaped by competing obligations: husband and wife, state service, and filial duty. The poem's emotional movement is clear: longing before reunion, relief after reunion, and then the unavoidable burden of public labor and family responsibility. This makes "Ru Fen" more than a love poem. It is a compact poem about how private feeling exists under social pressure.
About the Author
"Ru Fen" comes from the "Zhou Nan" section of the "Airs of the States" in the Book of Songs. Its author is unknown. The Book of Songs is the earliest anthology of Chinese poetry, containing more than three hundred poems from roughly the early Western Zhou to the mid-Spring and Autumn period. The "Zhou Nan" poems often concern love, marriage, household life, labor, ritual, and social experience. "Ru Fen" is notable for combining marital longing, labor hardship, and filial obligation in a brief but emotionally layered form.