Chinese poem illustration: 上邪/ Father Above by Anonymous
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A Song served as an oath. The general idea is that it is an oath for lovers or married couple. It was collected by the official Musical Department of Han dynasty(乐府), thus we could have this oath words till today.
There is an argument that this oath is between males for friendship, brotherhood, and I do believe this is the real case. I developed a new interpretation based on dialect of Shaanxi(秦腔), which could be the direct descendant of the official language of Han dynasty. In this dialect, the title 上邪 is The Father Above which is an alternative name for sun, who is the witness of this oath.
Either for love or brotherhood, can you feel the dedication and eternity ?
上邪
佚名
上邪！我欲与君相知，长命无绝衰。
山无陵，
江水为竭，
冬雷震震，
夏雨雪，
天地合，
乃敢与君绝。
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