Among the peculiar ancient Chinese paintings with a history of more than a thousand years, there is a magical poem. This story touched me deeply.

Hey! Hello everyone! I am very glad that you came to the Linlan Calligraphy and Painting Education website. Before you open the page to find out, first introduce yourself. I am a teacher of Lin Lan, a teacher of calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting with senior experience, and a contemporary Chinese youth calligraphy and painting.  Home, I have taught students and friends from all over the world, and won everyone’s praise and recognition!

Today, I would like to share an ancient Chinese poem for thousands of years with all my friends. Why would this poem be shared separately?  What magical power does it have?  Are you still surprised by this poem even after a thousand years?Please follow me back to history and enjoy Chinese painting to find answers.

 

 

Tang poetry and Song poetry are known as two pearls in the history of Chinese literature.

In the Tang Dynasty, famous poets included Du Fu, Li Bai, Wang Bo, Wang Wei, Bai Juyi, and Meng Haoran, while in the Song Dynasty, famous poets included Su Shi, Liu Yong, Xin Qiji, and Li Qingzhao.

These people have a great reputation, and their works are well-known, and anyone can memorize a few.    However, there are some poets who are not as well-known as them, whose works are equally amazing.    For example, the person who wrote "The First Poem of the Tang Dynasty" was neither Li Bai nor Du Fu, but Zhang Ruoxu, the representative of "Chun Jiang Hua Yue Ye";

Another example is that Li Yu, a little-known poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote a poem "Two Lovesickness". 

The reason why it is called a strange poem is that this poem can be read along or backwards, but the meaning it expresses has changed a lot, which is the so-called "palindromic poem".

 

 

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Men usually read along, but women must read backward.  This poem is a seven-rules, read it along the way, it is a poem of "Looking forward to wife coming home", the whole content is as follows:

 

With dry eyes looking at the distant mountains and across the water, how many thoughts have you seen before and after?

 

Hu Kong is afraid of drinking a glass of wine, it is difficult to write a poem.

 

The journey prevented people from leaving for a long time, and the message was sent back late.

 

The lonely night watch is long and lonely, and the husband recalls his wife and his father.

 

 

When reading along, the meaning of this poem is that a husband misses his wife, and even the son beside him misses his mother.

 

He stared at the distant mountains and rivers with withered eyes. The wine in the jug was gone, and he didn't dare to get up to add wine. He was afraid that the more he drank, the more distressed his heart would become; the feeling of longing was too strong, even a poem of harmony.  I don't know how to write it.

 

The feelings expressed throughout the article are very sincere, making it seem as if you can see the man as the husband, in the long night, accompanied by a lone lamp, full of thoughts about his wife.

 

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But this is not the most brilliant part of the whole poem. As mentioned earlier, it can be read along or backwards. Change the order of each word and it becomes "Expecting husband to go home":

The child remembers his father, his wife and his husband, and the lonely long night watch is lonely.   

There is no news from the late post to the geese.   Poetry and success are difficult to write, and the glass is afraid of empty pot.

I have seen a few encounters with my bosom, and the water is dry across the mountains.

Reading it backwards meant that the wife missed her husband, because the husband could not return for a long time and did not send any letters back. The wife thought at home that it must be a long journey that prevented him from returning.

Although the poem had already been recited, he was too late to write, and he didn't dare to drink a glass of wine. Looking through the autumn water, he waited until his eyes were dry.

In fact, there are many palindrome poems in history. For example, Su Shi and Su Xiaomei in the Song Dynasty have written this genre.

Palindromic poems are divided into five types: full palindrome, single-sentence palindrome, double-sentence palindrome, this palindrome, and ring complex palindrome. We can read Su Xiaomei’s "double-sentence palindrome" poem:

The lotus pickers are in Lvyangjin, and they are new in Lvyangjin.   A new song shuyu, singing shuyu picking lotus people.

 

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It can be seen that the so-called "double-sentence palindrome" refers to the readback of the previous sentence in the entire poem.

In comparison, Li Yu's poem, which combines "thinking of husband" and "thinking of wife" into one, into "Two Lovesickness", is the most difficult "all-body palindrome". The whole poem starts from the last word.  Conversely, read to the beginning of the word in order and become another new poem.

Li Yu is not well-known in history, and we never learned the poems written by him when we were in school, but judging from this "Two Lovesickness", Li Yu's heart should be very delicate and only truly affectionate people can  Write such soulful poems.    Maybe Li Yu also experienced a beautiful love before his death, but he had to separate, so let's have some feelings.

Okay, friends, do you like the amazing secrets of the thousand-year-old poetry and historical story shared today?  Welcome to leave your opinion below, thank you!