Shi Jing 45 Floating Boat

From: Book of Ode
Period: Spring and Autumn
Section: Songs of Yong State
(Collected by Confucius)
Translated by Laijon Liu (2007.08.24)

The cypress boat in current she floats,
In the center of river she roves.
The lad with the tufts hairdo
Is just the one I really admire;
I swear, till death there won’t be no other.
But, oh Heaven, oh mother!
Why don’t you understand me!

The cypress boat in current she floats,
To the bank of river she perches.
The lad with the tufts hairdo
Is just the one my heart matches;
I swear, till death I won’t change my mind.
But, oh Heaven, oh mother!
Why don’t you sympathize me!

Note:
The poet might be a young teenage girl who loved some young lad, but she could not do anything about it, coz her mother already decided for her. She compared herself as a boat that goes to the direction carried by the river current. And She might be married to someone who is not as young as lovely as “The lad with the tufts hairdo”. The boat in center of river she floats to where her heart goes, but she must perch on the bank (maybe forced) as love and marriage serves the purpose of security, reality. Jeez, it is really difficult to choose for our daughters’ marriage: A musician (basically a beggar, or drunk, drug addict, but much poetic and artistic or even profound, usually young and always cool); or a politician (a successor in both finance and status through oil and drug or strong arm business, a shameless liar and poor actor, often aging and always subtle) But thank God, now our parents cannot choose.