Book of Songs
唐风·有杕之杜
佚名
有杕之杜，生于道左。彼君子兮，噬肯适我。中心好之，曷饮食之？
有杕之杜，生于道周。彼君子兮，噬肯来游。中心好之，曷饮食之？
Translation
There stands a solitary pear tree, growing on the left side of the road. That noble person—if only he would come to me. I cherish him in my heart; with what food and drink could I welcome him? There stands a solitary pear tree, growing by the road. That noble person—if only he would come here to visit. I cherish him in my heart; with what food and drink could I receive him?
Analysis
“You Di Zhi Du” uses the same image of the solitary pear tree as “Di Du,” but its emotional direction is different. Here the tree by the road creates a scene of waiting. A road is a place of passage, and the speaker’s hope is that the admired person may come this way. The repeated phrase “that noble person” carries both respect and affection. The words “if only he would come” are modest and tentative, as though the speaker does not dare to demand the meeting, only to imagine it. The line “I cherish him in my heart” is unusually direct for the Book of Songs. Yet the final question turns affection into hospitality: if he comes, with what food and drink shall I receive him? The poem’s tenderness lies in this concreteness. Love is not only longing; it is the desire to welcome, feed, and honor the person who arrives.
About the Author
“You Di Zhi Du” is an anonymous poem from “Tang Feng.” Traditional interpretations often connect it with the desire to welcome worthy men, while it can also be read as a song of personal expectation and hospitality. Like many poems in the Book of Songs, it uses a natural image—the solitary tree by the road—to open an emotional scene. Its charm lies in the way admiration becomes a wish to receive and care for the visitor.