He Zhizhang

Chinese writer (659-744)

He Zhizhang (659–744) was a Chinese poet born in present-day Xiaoshan, Zhejiang during the Tang Dynasty.

I left home young. I returned old;
Speaking as then, but with hair grown thin;
And my children, meeting me, do not know me.
They smile and say: "Stranger, where do you come from?"

Quotes

edit
  • 碧玉妝成一樹高,
    萬條垂下綠絲縧。
    不知細葉誰裁出,
    二月春風似剪刀。
    • Ten thousand branches of tall trees begin to sprout,
      They droop like fringes of a robe made of green jade.
      But do you know by whom these young leaves are cut out?
      The early spring wind is as sharp as scissor blade.
    • "Willow Trees" (《咏柳》), in 150 Tang Poems, trans. Xu Yuan-zhong
  • 少小離家老大回,鄉音無改鬢毛衰。
    兒童相見不相識,笑問客從何處來。
    • I left home young. I returned old;
      Speaking as then, but with hair grown thin;
      And my children, meeting me, do not know me.
      They smile and say: "Stranger, where do you come from?"
    • "Coming Home" (《回乡偶书》) in Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty, trans. Witter Bynner
edit