[Poem] LATE SPRING - A meditation on nature’s transient beauty

In “Late Spring,” Han Yu portrays a moment when spring’s colorful grandeur is on the brink of yielding to the warmth and changes of early summer. The poem begins with an acknowledgment that even the grass and trees ‘sense’ the season’s imminent end. This personification underscores nature’s inherent wisdom—everything is in tune with the cycle of bloom and decline.

Bright blossoms of red and purple ‘vie’ with one another, forming a vivid tableau. Their competition alludes to the natural world’s overflowing vitality. Yet this surge of color and fragrance also signals that spring’s most glorious moment cannot be sustained. The second couplet draws attention to more humble plants: willow catkins and elm pods. While these are not admired for their striking color or poetic elegance, they are still part of the seasonal drama—drifting freely, reminiscent of dancing snow, and embodying the quiet transformations of late spring.

Han Yu’s imagery here conveys an undercurrent of both joy and wistfulness. Although beauty is abundant, it must pass; the poem gently reminds us that seasons change, and everything ephemeral eventually yields to time. This introspective tension is a hallmark of Tang poetry, often expressing a simultaneous celebration of life and reflection on its impermanence. In the end, the simplest details—a swirl of soft seeds in the air—hold their own poetic wonder, illustrating that beauty exists in surprising forms, even when overshadowed by more flamboyant blossoms.

Through this poem, Han Yu not only documents the literal shift from lush spring to the coming summer but also explores the universal theme of impermanence. His words prompt us to savor what is fleeting and to remain attentive to subtler expressions of grace that may go unnoticed if we only admire the grand or the obvious.