Whose Fault Is It?

Is Romance Doomed?

Whose Fault Is It?

The brief poem we saw in yesterday’s post creates some pretty interesting interpretation difficulties:

春夢隨雲散，飛花逐水流。

寄言眾兒女，何必覓閒愁？

Spring dreams scatter like clouds on the wind,

Flying petals follow flowing streams.

I send these words to all young people:

Why needlessly chase after grief?

Both David Hawks and Gladys Yang interpret this poem as an admonition against love. In other words, based on their translations, it seems that they see the “needlessly chasing after grief” (覓閒愁) line as referring specifically to the all-too-human act of falling in love.

Now, it’s only natural to assume that this poem refers to love. After all, in the passage before, we saw a number of items in Lady Qin’s bedroom that seem to be erotic in nature: