Takashima & the Yilin · A short read
Two people turn towards each other.
An eldest son and a young woman turn towards each other and talk. That is almost the whole scene. After the broken carriage and the traveller who cannot get a message through, this little Yilin poem offers a moment of ease.
Kun to Tong Ren, 2 to 13
長男少女，相向共語，福祿歡喜。
An eldest son and a young woman face each other and talk together, with good fortune, prosperity and joy.
English translation: DaYan. 長男 means the eldest son; 少女 can name a young woman or the youngest daughter. We use “young woman” here. The verse gives neither person a name.
Close enough to hear
相向共語 puts them facing one another, sharing speech. You could read it in a breath. The poem gives us no journey to explain, no third person delivering a message. It starts with the two already able to talk.
The closing words promise good fortune and prosperity in the language of an oracle verse. On the page, the pleasure arrives sooner, in the plain act of turning towards someone. The poem leaves the subject of their conversation to our imagination.
Try the other conversation
In Qian to Qian, an interpreter cannot hear or speak and a request never gets through. Put the two poems beside each other. Here the speakers meet face to face; there, every stage of communication goes wrong.
The contrast is small enough to hold in mind when you return to either poem. Kun to Tong Ren has only twelve characters. After you have read the translation, look once more at 共語, “talk together”, and see how much of the scene those two characters carry.
Sources & translation
Jiaoshi Yilin, Kun to Tong Ren (坤之同人), received text via Chinese Text Project. English translation and reading notes: DaYan.
Chinese Text Project: Jiaoshi Yilin ↗