Returning to Mount Song - Wang Wei
/归嵩山作 - 王维/
A Contemplation on Wandering and the Call of Home
清川带长薄，
By a clear river, the low plains stretch on,
车马去闲闲。
While carriage and horse depart at a leisurely pace.
流水若有意，
If the flowing waters possess their own intent,
悠悠到此间。
They meander gently until arriving here.
生事且未定，
Our life’s pursuits remain unsettled still,
归心日已玄。
Yet the desire to return grows profound with each day.
一从陶令去，
Ever since Tao Yuanming abandoned official life,
无复更重还。
No longer did he wish to come back again.
In “Returning to Mount Song,” Wang Wei paints an image of someone gradually detaching from worldly bustle. As the poem unfolds, the speaker observes a calm river extending into lowlands, while travelers set off, unhurried, by horse and carriage. This languid departure contrasts with the speaker’s growing inclination to leave behind the uncertainties of public life and return to the mountain retreat—an echo of the legendary poet Tao Yuanming (also called Tao Qian), who famously relinquished his official post for rustic simplicity.
Wang Wei’s gentle landscape imagery underscores a longing for personal and spiritual freedom. The poem’s central motif—the flowing water—embodies life’s quiet persuasions: like a stream, our life-journeys can carry us smoothly if we follow their natural course. Yet in the midst of this calm and clarity, the poet acknowledges that human plans and obligations often remain unfixed. Day by day, however, the call of the mountains becomes harder to ignore.
In just eight lines, Wang Wei connects the tangible scene—plain, river, distant travelers—with a subtle inner transformation, capturing the tension between worldly engagements and the desire for a simpler, more contemplative existence. By citing Tao Yuanming, he alludes to the broader tradition of learned individuals renouncing government service in favor of harmony with nature and the self. The closing couplet, signaling a final departure, highlights that sometimes, once we commit to a simpler path, there is no true wish to return to the old ways.
Key points
Wang Wei’s poem speaks to the universal tension between duty and the longing for a more meaningful life. By weaving pastoral beauty with references to past sages who chose solitude over status, he suggests that genuine freedom may lie in following the natural rhythms of one’s own heart—just as water finds its course and forests patiently await the wanderer’s return.