黄鹤楼送孟浩然之广陵黃鶴樓送孟浩然之廣陵
gù rén故人xī西cí辞Huáng hè Lóu黄鹤楼，
yān huā烟花Sān yuè三月xià下Yáng zhōu扬州。
gū孤fān帆yuǎn远yǐng影bì kōng碧空jǐn尽，
wéi唯jiàn cháng见长jiāng江tiān jì天际liú流。
The poet & the story
In 730 Li Bai saw his older friend and idol Meng Haoran off at Yellow Crane Tower in present-day Wuhan, bound downriver for Yangzhou (Guangling). The tower, the “misty blossoms of the third month” and the lone sail made this the model farewell poem — Chinese still call March trips to the south 烟花三月.
Interpretation
His old friend leaves Yellow Crane Tower in the west and sails down to Yangzhou through the blossom-mist of late spring. The lone sail shrinks to a shadow, then dissolves into blue sky — and all that is left is the Yangtze flowing to the horizon. Li Bai never says “I miss you”; he just keeps watching long after the boat is gone, and the river says the rest.