On Reappointment, Traveling to the Capital, and Arriving at the Xiang River - Han Yu
/除官赴阙至湘水 - 韩愈/
A Reflection While Crossing the Xiang River
行踪昨日隔潇湘，
My path, only yesterday, lay beyond the Xiao and Xiang;
云水秋来夜更长。
Clouds and waters herald autumn, making the nights grow ever longer.
渺渺江天明月下，
Under a vast moon hanging over river and sky,
孤舟此去渐茫茫。
This solitary boat drifts onward into the unknown.
贪看楚越谁家景，
Enthralled by the splendor of Chu and Yue in this foreign land,
未识京华旧故乡。
I find it distant from my long-familiar capital.
心折桂殿风光里，
My heart yearns for the palace halls, adorned with laurels and light;
却惹羁怀万里伤。
Yet it also stirs a wanderer’s ache, spanning ten thousand li.
My path, only yesterday, lay beyond the Xiao and Xiang;
云水秋来夜更长。
Clouds and waters herald autumn, making the nights grow ever longer.
渺渺江天明月下，
Under a vast moon hanging over river and sky,
孤舟此去渐茫茫。
This solitary boat drifts onward into the unknown.
贪看楚越谁家景，
Enthralled by the splendor of Chu and Yue in this foreign land,
未识京华旧故乡。
I find it distant from my long-familiar capital.
心折桂殿风光里，
My heart yearns for the palace halls, adorned with laurels and light;
却惹羁怀万里伤。
Yet it also stirs a wanderer’s ache, spanning ten thousand li.
In this poem, traditionally attributed to Han Yu, the poet reflects on his reappointment to an official post and his subsequent journey northward to the imperial capital. Having reached the Xiang River, he meditates on both the natural beauty and the lingering pangs of homesickness.
The Xiang River region, also known for its connection to the Xiao and Xiang tributaries, carries strong cultural and poetic connotations. The poet evokes autumn’s onset through images of lengthening nights and drifting clouds, underscoring his sense of distance—both from his friends and from the splendor of Chang’an’s palace life. Though he is enthralled by the scenic majesty of the southern realms of Chu and Yue, he cannot escape the pull of the capital, “京华,” once so familiar to him.
Several themes emerge: the tension between duty and personal longing, the beauty and strangeness of unfamiliar places, and the Confucian responsibility that compels Han Yu to resume his role in government. The poem’s central emotional thread is a wistful ache for home; even as he admires the expansive waters and moonlit banks of the Xiang, he recognizes that such loveliness stirs up a traveler’s melancholy. His official responsibilities call him onward, but the distance from the capital—both literal and emotional—remains profound.
By portraying the Xiang River as a liminal space between the known (the imperial center) and the unknown (the vast southern lands), Han Yu’s poem stands as a timeless reflection on how duty can displace us, forcing us to traverse unfamiliar landscapes and, in doing so, reveal new depths of longing and discovery. Whether one’s path leads back to positions of power or into uncharted territory, the ache of separation and the reverence for natural wonders remain constants in life’s journey.
Key points
• Evokes a traveler’s blended sense of wonder and homesickness amid shifting autumn skies.
• Reflects the Confucian official’s tension between duty to the court and personal attachments.
• Uses the Xiang River as a powerful symbol of liminality and change.
• Reminds readers that beauty can intensify, rather than soothe, a wanderer’s longing for home.
