歸去來兮 · Returning to What Is Mine

An original 古風 song for day twenty-three — Tao Yuanming, Eastern Jin poet-hermit, on the day he resigned his post as magistrate of Pengze and turned his cart south toward home. The chrysanthemums in the eastern hedge were still in bloom. The southern hills stood quietly in the evening glow. He had been away long enough that the old three-path garden was overgrown, yet the pine and chrysanthemum were still there, waiting. Konghou leads with warm arpeggios like the creak of a garden gate swinging open; erhu traces his quiet steps through the overgrown paths; guqin anchors the philosophical undertone in the chorus where the world's floating clouds scatter from sight.

Theme: Historical figures & dynasties — Tao Yuanming (陶淵明), Eastern Jin (365–427)

歸去來兮 田園將蕪胡不歸

掛冠辭彭澤 一醉辭官去 驅車向南陌 舊圃菊正芳 松風搖舊影 籬邊燕語長 心遠地自偏 何問市朝忙

歸去來兮 東籬把菊天色晚 歸去來兮 南山悠然入望間 此心已是山中客 不羨朱門萬丈寬 歸去來兮 世事浮雲轉眼散

晨興理荒穢 帶月荷鋤還 道狹草木長 夕露沾我衣 絲桐閑置壁 黃菊映窗欹 無弦琴一張 得意忘言非

歸去來兮 東籬把菊天色晚 歸去來兮 南山悠然入望間 此心已是山中客 不羨朱門萬丈寬 歸去來兮 世事浮雲轉眼散

問征夫以前路 恨晨光之燹微 乃瞻衡宇 載欣載奔 僮僕歡迎 稚子候門 三徑就荒 松菊猶存

歸去來兮 東籬把菊天色晚 歸去來兮 南山悠然入望間 此心已是山中客 不羨朱門萬丈寬 歸去來兮 世事浮雲轉眼散

歸去來兮 請息交以絕遊 世與我而相違 復駕言兮焉求 松菊猶存門自掩 歸去來兮