A classical Chinese line for “It is time to move on”

Looking back at the bleak place I came through, I return: there is neither storm nor clear sky.

Plain meaningAfter weathering the storm, I no longer let hardship or ease define me.

People have sorrow and joy, meeting and separation; the moon has brightness and shadow, fullness and loss. Such things have never been complete.

Plain meaningLife cannot remain perfect or whole all the time.

Rather than moistening each other with foam, it is better to forget each other in the rivers and lakes.

Plain meaningSometimes the kinder choice is to let each other go and live freely.

Thinking of the endlessness of heaven and earth, alone in sorrow I shed tears.

Plain meaningThe scale of time and the world can make one person's loneliness feel overwhelming.

The cries of apes on both banks have not ceased, yet the light boat has already passed ten thousand mountains.

Plain meaningSometimes you realize only afterward how much hardship you have already crossed.

Beside the sunken boat, a thousand sails pass; before the diseased tree, ten thousand trees enter spring.

Plain meaningNew life and opportunity continue beyond loss and decline.