Life

If you come across one of the best feel-good books ever and start reading, the more pages you read, the more you wish it were not finished ever. You will end up frustrated and sad as you have fewer pages to go than the ones already read. In other words, it may be a rare opportunity to discover a book that deserves your whole reading time from a bunch of books stacked on the shelves. Likewise, even if you want to spend more time with a good friend who clicks with you, things often do not go your way and your bestie may leave you someday. You find it hard to meet good friends who share a sincere and true friendship with you even when you have got some chances to hang around with many people for some reason. Although the poet only talks about books and friends, we all know by experience that we often fail to be satisfied with anything in life.

The poet gives a deep and weary sigh, saying, “Only a few moments of life lasting 100 years at best relieve a bit of my concerns,” which appears to be derived from a phrase written by an unidentified author by the end of Han Dynasty that goes, “You only live less than 100 years but your worries outlive you to last 1,000 years.” The origin of this mentality is derived from Zhuangzi, an ancient Chinese book, where Dao Zhi says to Confucius, "We humans only live up to 100 years if lucky enough. Normally, we die at 80 but some are gone at the age of 60. Except for the days you are ailing or get in trouble, you only have four to five days to smile.”

Chen Shidao had a significant influence on the arena of poems and poetry in the Northern Song Dynasty. He was famous for his enthusiasm and dedication to searching and polishing up his poetic words and phrases over and over again. One of his anecdotes says that if some poetic inspiration comes to mind while he hikes the mountains, he hurries back home, pulling up the blanket and racking his brain.