— Li Shangyin
Spring is far, far away
Where the sun slants its ray.
If orioles have tear,
Wet highest flowers here!
Note
Li Shangyin (c. 813–858) was a master poet of China’s late Tang Dynasty, celebrated for his emotionally rich, symbol-laden verse that often explores themes of longing, transience, and quiet despair. His poetry is known for its musicality, ambiguity, and ability to evoke deep feeling through delicate natural imagery.
His poem “To the Ends of the Earth” (The End of the Sky orTian Ya) is a haunting four-line meditation on solitude and sorrow during spring – a season usually associated with joy. The speaker finds himself far from home (“spring day at the ends of the earth”), and as the sun sets once more in this distant place, even the cheerful song of the oriole seems tearful. In a strikingly imaginative final line, Li writes that if the bird’s song were tears, they would fall and dampen the highest flower – too lofty to be reached by human hands, yet touched by celestial grief. This image transforms nature into a mirror of unspoken heartache: beauty exists, but it is fragile, unreachable, and steeped in melancholy.
Rather than celebrating spring, the poem reveals how emotional exile can make even the loveliest season feel desolate.
天涯
— 李商隐
春日在天涯，
天涯日又斜。
莺啼如有泪，
为湿最高花。
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