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Wang Chia (b. 851) has left little information about himself other than that he was from Yungchi at the southwest corner of Shansi province and that he served as prefect of several outlying districts as well as vice-director of one of the bureaus in the Ministry of Rites. Although this poem ostensibly describes the poet’s garden, many critics read it as a commentary on the fickleness of human sentiment: the center of attention one day, without friends the next. Even when they enjoyed the emperor’s support, the only thing of which officials were certain is that it wouldn’t last. But the only alternatives for someone educated in the Confucian classics and literary models was to teach in the village school, to serve as someone’s secretary, or to farm a poor patch of ground—hence the popularity of the hermit tradition in China. Two hundred years after this poem was written, Wang An-shih (1021–1086) took such a liking to it he rewrote it and included it in his own collection.

Spring Clearing

WANG CHIA

Before the rain there were buds among the flowers

when it cleared even those below the leaves were gone

all the bees and butterflies flew across the wall

apparently spring has moved to the neighbor’s