Tang Dynasty
Dwelling by the Creek
Liu Zongyuan
久为簪组累，幸此南夷谪。
闲依农圃邻，偶似山林客。
晓耕翻露草，夜榜响溪石。
来往不逢人，长歌楚天碧。
Translation
For a long time, I was burdened by cap and sash, by official life. Fortunately, I have now been exiled to this southern borderland. In leisure, I live beside farmers and gardens. At times, I almost seem like a man of mountain woods. At dawn I plow, turning over grasses wet with dew. At night I pole my boat, and the oar rings against stones in the creek. Coming and going, I meet no one. So beneath the blue sky of Chu, I sing a long song.
Analysis
“Dwelling by the Creek” was written after Liu Zongyuan’s exile to Yongzhou. On the surface, it describes a quiet rural life beside a stream. But the poem is not a simple celebration of retreat. It carries the complicated emotions of a banished official trying to console himself through landscape and labor. The opening couplet gives the political background. “Cap and sash” refers to official rank and bureaucratic life. Liu says he had long been burdened by office, and now he is “fortunately” exiled to the southern border. The word “fortunately” is deeply ironic and self-comforting. Exile is painful, but it also releases him from the entanglements of court politics. The second couplet describes his new mode of living. He dwells near farmers and vegetable plots, and sometimes seems like a recluse in the mountains. But “seems” is important. This is not a fully chosen hermitage. It is a condition produced by political failure and displacement. The third couplet gives the poem its concrete life. At dawn, he plows through dew-wet grass. At night, he poles a boat, and the oar strikes stones in the creek. Morning and night, field and water, labor and sound all make the scene vivid. The exile’s life becomes simple, physical, and close to nature. The final couplet turns solitude into song. He comes and goes without meeting anyone. In that loneliness, he sings beneath the blue sky of Chu. The song is both release and resistance. With no companions or listeners, he sings to the open sky. The poem’s power lies in its tension. The rural life is peaceful, but it is not innocent. It is shaped by banishment. Liu Zongyuan writes clear water, farming, creek stones, and blue sky, but behind them remains the sorrow of a man cut off from political life and human community.
About the Author
Liu Zongyuan, courtesy name Zihou, was a major Tang dynasty writer, thinker, and poet from Hedong, often known as Liu Hedong. He took part in the Yongzhen Reform, and after its failure he was demoted and exiled to Yongzhou and later Liuzhou. He is one of the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song, famous for works such as “The Snake Catcher’s Story,” “Record of the Little Stone Pond,” and the “Eight Records of Yongzhou.” His poetry often reflects exile, solitude, clear landscapes, and philosophical detachment. “Dwelling by the Creek” shows how he used rural life and mountain-water scenery to absorb, but not erase, the pain of political exile.