— Luo Yin
By riverside you see lovers part on fine day;
They cling together but they cannot make spring stay.
Your catkins waft in the breeze when your branches sway,
Could you retain those who are going far away?
Note
Luo Yin (833–909) was a late Tang Dynasty poet renowned for his incisive wit, social criticism, and philosophical reflections on fate, inequality, and human vulnerability. Often blending irony with empathy, he used natural imagery to question conventional ideals – especially romanticized notions in classical poetry.
His poem “Willow” subverts the traditional image of the willow as a graceful symbol of parting and affection. Set at the famous Ba River – a historic site for farewells – the poem begins by acknowledging how often people bid tearful goodbyes beneath its branches in spring, clinging to each other amid the tender beauty of the season.
But Luo Yin then turns the willow’s symbolism inward with sharp self-awareness: “Even my own catkins drift without certainty – how can I possibly use my trailing threads to hold back travelers?” The willow, personified, admits its own instability; if it cannot control its own drifting fluff, how can it truly “bind” or comfort those who pass by?
This clever reversal transforms the willow from a passive emblem of sentiment into a voice of existential doubt – questioning the sincerity of poetic cliches and highlighting the helplessness of both nature and humans in the face of impermanence.
柳
— 罗隐
灞岸晴来送别频，
相偎相依不胜春。
自家飞絮犹无定，
争解垂丝绊路人？
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