Yuan Dynasty
清江引·野兴
马致远
东篱本是风月主，
晚节园林趣。
一枕葫芦架，
几行垂杨树，
是搭儿快活闲住处。
Translation
Dongli was always a master of wind and moon, and in later years he came to love the pleasures of garden life. A gourd trellis for resting one’s head, a few rows of drooping willows— this is just the place to live freely and at ease.
Analysis
This song presents the quiet ideal of retirement. “Dongli” is both Ma Zhiyuan’s literary name and an echo of Tao Yuanming’s pastoral tradition. The world of the song is small: a gourd trellis, a few willow trees, a place to sit and live at ease. But this smallness is exactly its power. After so many songs on history, ambition, and disillusionment, this lyric offers the positive counterpart: a modest space where the self can finally rest.