The first two sentences of the ancient poem "The Wandering Son" mean: A kind mother holds needle and thread in her hand to make new clothes for her children who are about to travel far away.

Source: "The Song of the Wandering Son" - Meng Jiao of the Tang Dynasty

The thread in the hands of the loving mother, the clothes on the body of the wandering boy.

Before leaving, I am worried that I will return later.

Whoever speaks an inch of grass will be rewarded with three rays of spring.

Translation A kind mother, with needle and thread in her hand, rushes to make new clothes for her child who is about to travel far away. Before leaving, I sewed it stitch by stitch, fearing that my son would come back late and the clothes would be damaged. Who said that a weak filial piety like Xiaocao could repay the kindness of a loving mother like Chunhui Puze?

Extended information

1. The creative background of "Wandering Ziyin"

"Wandering Ziyin" was written by Meng Jiao in Liyang. The author was homeless in his early years, and it was not until he was fifty that he got a lieutenant in Liyang County. After his long years of wandering, he took his mother to live with him. The poet has experienced the harshness of the world and feels that family love is precious, so he wrote this touching poem in praise of his mother.

2. Appreciation of "Wandering Son's Song"

The deep maternal love bathes her children all the time. However, for Meng Jiao, a wanderer who has been homeless all year round, the most memorable thing is the painful moment of separation between mother and son. This poem describes the ordinary scene of a loving mother sewing at such a time, but it expresses the poet's deep inner emotions.

This poem artistically reproduces the ordinary and great human beauty that people feel, so it has won strong praise from countless readers for thousands of years. Until the Qing Dynasty, two poets in Liyang recited such verses: "The empty basket is full of father's letters, and the mother's thread lingers in my skirt" (Shi Qisheng's "Writing Hues"), "There have always been so many tears, all my hands are dyed in sewing" (Peng Gui "My younger brother Jianchu came to the capital to visit his relatives and was very happy"), which shows the deep impression this poem left on future generations.

3. Introduction to the author of "Wandering Son Yin"

Meng Jiao (751-814), courtesy name Dongye, was born in Wukang, Huzhou (now Deqing County, Zhejiang Province), and his ancestral home is Pingchang ( Today's Linyi County, Dezhou, Shandong). A famous poet in the Tang Dynasty. Meng Jiao's poetry. Because most of his poems wrote about the harsh conditions of the world and the suffering of the people, he was known as the "poem prisoner". Together with Jia Dao, he was also called "the cold island in the suburbs". There are more than 500 Meng poems in existence, among which the five ancient short stories are the most numerous. The current version of "Collected Poems of Meng Dongye" is in 10 volumes.

He lived in Luoyang for generations and lived in seclusion in Songshan Mountain when he was young. Meng Jiao failed to pass the imperial examination in two examinations. He won the imperial examination at the age of forty-six and served as a lieutenant in Liyang County. Later, on the recommendation of Henan Yin Zheng Yuqing, he worked in Henan and spent most of his later life in Luoyang. In the ninth year of Yuanhe reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty, Zheng Yuqing once again recruited him to join the army in Xingyuan Prefecture. He went there with his wife and went to Nexiang County (now Lingbao, Henan Province). He died of a sudden illness and was buried in the east of Luoyang. Zhang Ji's private posthumous title is "Mr. Zhenyao".