Separation on the River Kiang

Separation on the River Kiang - meaning Summary

Departure and Vastness

The poem records a short moment of departure as Ko-Jin sails west and the speaker watches. Sparse images—the blurred "smoke-flowers," a lone sail—compress distance and loss into a single vision of the Kiang River. Attention shifts from the departing figure to the river itself, which is portrayed as vast and reaching toward heaven, suggesting permanence and the speaker’s feeling of separation or longing.