Matchmaker Oracle · Lot 30

Source: Classical poem (author uncertain)

What it means

Longing for someone out of reach, as hard as filling the sea; ease your heart.

A poem of longing: partings come too soon, longing returns each spring; the goddess cannot be seen, the gorge is empty, as hard as filling the sea. You long for someone distant or hard to meet; deep feeling, hard to fulfil. Ease your heart and turn longing into care for yourself.

Guidance in love

Line by line

1. 話別無長夜
   At parting, the night is never long enough
2. 相思又此春
   longing returns again this spring.
3. 瑤姬不可見
   The goddess cannot be seen
4. 巫峽更何人
   who else is there in the Wu Gorge?
5. 運石疑填海
   Carrying stones to fill the sea seems vain
6. 乘槎欲問津
   you would ride a raft to ask the way to heaven.
7. 遙情每未注
   Distant feelings find nowhere to go
8. 誰共爾為鄰
   who will be your neighbour and companion?

Original context

Author uncertain. It uses the goddess of Mount Wu, the bird Jingwei trying to fill the sea with pebbles, and the raft that sails to the Milky Way, all images of a hard quest.

Text: the 100-lot Matchmaker (Yue Lao) oracle used in Taiwan. Most lots quote classical texts; sources were checked against the originals, obvious copying errors corrected, and uncertain sources marked as such.