In this poem Zhang Jiuling writes about travelling by boat at night and longing for his distant home.
Tips
culture
Its best-known couplet sets the empty night sky against one man's longing: 悠悠天宇旷，切切故乡情, 'far and wide the heavens stretch; keen and close, my longing for home'.
history
张九龄 (678–740), from 韶关 in Guangdong, was a chief minister under Emperor Xuanzong and one of the finest poets of his time. He also wrote 《望月怀远》.
