Thinking of Home While on a Mission in the West (1)
This morning, wild geese went East,
At dawn they broke my sleep.
Restless, I can’t dream again,
Alone, I think of Chang’an (2).
Notes
(1) Anonymous poem found in the archives of the Chinese embassy in Italy.
(2) Chang’an (长安 ‘Perpetual peace’, modern day Xi’an 西安 ‘Western peace’), was the capital of more than 10 Chinese dynasties, during its heyday it was one of the most populous cities in the world, this poem dates from the mid-eight century AD, when Chang’an counted a population between 800,000 and 1,000,000 within city walls.