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You ask me when I can return, but I don't know
It rains in western hills and autumn pools overflow
When can we trim by window side the candlelight
And talk about the western hills in rainy night
Li Shangyin (810/813-858AD), also known as Li Yishan, was a Chinese poet of the late Tang Dynasty, born in Henei (today's Qinyang city, Central China's Henan province).
Li was a typical late Tang poet: his works are sensuous, dense and allusive. The latter quality makes adequate translation extremely difficult. Although more famous for his sensuous poems, Li indeed wrote in many styles. He can be satirical, humorous, or sentimental. He was much admired and "rediscovered" in the 20th century by the young Chinese writers for the imagist quality of his poems. (Video: Yang Jiaxin and Zhou Jinmiao)
