Song Of A Traveling Son Poem by Meng Jiao

The loving care of a mother for her son is very difficult to return by any means!

Anxiety of a loving mother for her travelling son. What a beauty of sadness!

short and sweet...a wonderful poem...giving and taking are not always equal in measure...

We can return the love of our mother, The little she did to us when we were tiny made us the way are.

The first four lines seem to translate very well. I have no trouble understanding them, but the last two don't seem to make all that much sense. I like the last two lines suggested by Fabrizio Frosini better than the two shown above.

A traveling son is nice poem

CHINESE TEXT + a slightly different translation into English 游子吟 慈 母 手 中 线, 游 子 身 上 衣 。 临 行 密 密 缝, 意 恐 迟 迟 归 。 谁 言 寸 草 心, 报 得 三 春 晖 。 cí mǔ shǒu zhōng xiàn ， yóu zǐ shēn shàng yī。 lín xíng mì mì féng ，yì kǒng chí chí guī 。 shuí yán cùn cǎo xīn ， bào dé sān chūn huī 。 ‘Song of the Wanderer’ From the thread in the hand of a loving Mother, To the coat on the back of the journeying son. Swiftly stitching till the moment of departure, Anxiously fearing a delayed return was she. Who suggested that the heart of a blade of grass, Could repay the warmth and brilliance of the Springs? (see also my comments at the other page)

''Song Of A Traveling Son'' and ''Wanderer's Song'' are the same poem.. just in a different version (translations) check the 2 texts. ''Wanderer's Song'' has got more lines added - but I suspect they refer to a sort of ''note of the author'', explaining the meaning of the poem.. As I wrote at Wanderer's Song page, it would be good to have the help by some Chinese readers, to understand if it's right.. - I'm going to add the Chinese text of the poem in another 'box'..

I love this sweet and lovely poem. I've already translated this poem into Bengali. I want to read more of Meng Jiao.