Drinking Wine · No. 5
Wei and Jin Dynasties・Tao Yuanming
Classical Chinese-style Ballad
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Picking chrysanthemums beneath the eastern hedge, at ease I glimpse the southern mountain.
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- 无事小狗仙
- 2026-10-24 13:25
- 6 reads
I build my hut where people dwell，yet hear no clamor of carts and horses。
You ask how I can be this way？When the heart is distant, the place grows secluded of itself.
Gathering chrysanthemums beneath the eastern hedge, at ease I glimpse the southern mountain.
The mountain air is lovely toward dusk; birds return together in flight.
Within this lies a true meaning; I would explain it, but have already forgotten words.
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Translation
I have built my home among human dwellings, yet hear no bustle of carriages and horses. If you ask how this can be, it is because my heart is far from worldly pursuits, and my dwelling naturally seems peaceful.
Picking chrysanthemums beneath the eastern fence, I happen to glimpse the southern mountains. At dusk the mountain air is pure and lovely, and birds return to their nests together. Here lies life’s true meaning; I wish to distinguish and explain it, yet have already forgotten how to put it into words.
Annotations
结庐: to build a simple dwelling. 人境: a place inhabited by people. 尔: so; thus. 心远: a mind removed from the distractions of fame, gain, and worldly affairs; it does not mean one must physically withdraw from everyone.
悠然: at ease and unhurried. 见: to see naturally in a moment of ease; it should not be recast as deliberate searching. 日夕: evening. 相与: together. 辨: to distinguish or explain; another version uses “辩.” This page follows the common readings “悠然见南山” — “at ease, I see the southern mountain” — and “欲辨已忘言” — “I would explain, but have already forgotten words.”
Introduction
Reading guide: This is the fifth of the “Twenty Poems on Drinking,” exploring how a person finds inner peace in an everyday dwelling. It moves from questions and answers addressed to the self into a moment of picking chrysanthemums and seeing a mountain, then closes with mountain air and returning birds, arriving at an understanding that need not be fully put into words.
Commentary
The opening attributes tranquility to “心远” (“a mind detached from worldly concerns”), rather than to geographical remoteness. This makes the chrysanthemums by the fence and the Southern Mountain that follow a natural unfolding of an attitude toward life, rather than a simple display of pastoral scenery.
“采菊” (picking chrysanthemums) is an everyday action close at hand, while “见南山” (catching sight of the southern mountain) feels like a chance lifting of the eyes; the effortless word “见” (see) preserves a sense of ease. Returning birds at dusk blend harmoniously with the mountain air, and the final “忘言” (forgetting words) leaves the experience within feeling, without compressing it into a rigid conclusion.
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South Mountain, a Heart Far Away
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Fiction inspired by poetry
The Southern Mountain Beyond the Fence
Three days of peace and quiet, priced at ten taels. A dispirited bookkeeper, Qiao Wang, rents a house at the foot of the Southern Mountain, sends away the rooster, pays to stop the mill, and adds screens and boards up the fence, hoping the visiting Mr. Ge will leave an inscription worth carrying back to the city. No sooner has his guest settled into his seat than he asks where the Southern Mountain is; the half of the mountain once visible through the window has long since been hidden by the new fence boards, while the broker is still recruiting the next party of scholarly visitors for him.
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