Tang Dynasty
Walking Alone After Rain at Dawn to the North Pond of Yu Creek
Liu Zongyuan
宿云散洲渚，晓日明村坞。
高树临清池，风惊夜来雨。
予心适无事，偶此成宾主。
Translation
Clouds left from the night scatter over islets and sandbars. The morning sun rises and brightens the mountain village. Tall trees stand beside the clear pond. A breeze startles the rain left from last night. My heart, just now, has nothing troubling it. By chance I have come here, and the scene and I become guest and host.
Analysis
“Walking Alone After Rain at Dawn to the North Pond of Yu Creek” was written during Liu Zongyuan’s exile in Yongzhou. It describes a clear morning after rain, when the poet walks alone to the north pond of Yu Creek and finds a rare moment of mental ease. The first two lines show the world opening after rain. Clouds left from the night disperse over the water’s edges, and the rising sun brightens a nearby village. The movement is from cloud to light, from damp obscurity to clarity. The next two lines focus on a delicate physical detail. Tall trees stand by a clear pond. When the wind moves through them, drops of rain left from the night fall from the leaves. The word “startles” is especially vivid. It makes the remaining rain seem almost alive, suddenly shaken loose by the breeze. This is not a grand landscape. It is a small, precise morning scene: clouds scattering, sunlight appearing, trees by a pond, a breeze disturbing last night’s rain. Its beauty lies in freshness and restraint. The final couplet turns inward. “My heart has nothing troubling it” is a rare statement of calm in Liu Zongyuan’s exile poetry. Much of his writing from Yongzhou carries loneliness and suppressed pain, but here the mind is temporarily clear. “By chance I have come here, and the scene and I become guest and host” gives the poem its quiet philosophical ending. The poet does not conquer the landscape or use it merely as background. He meets it. Nature becomes the host; the poet becomes the guest. Or, more subtly, each receives the other. The poem’s force is gentle. It shows a brief alignment between outer clarity and inner calm. After rain, the world clears; for a moment, so does the poet’s heart.
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. This poem shows one of his gentler moments: a brief, lucid encounter with nature in which sorrow is temporarily quieted.