We can infer from Du Mu's other go poem and the reference to consummate skill, that he is seeing off his friend and go champion of the period, Wang Feng. The enigmatic reference to the Diagrams of Wu was the only occurrence of the phrase over the past 2000 years until the discovery of the Dunhuang Xieben Qijing, a document dated to the Northern Zhou, 557-581. The Dunhuang Caves were excavated in 1899 by Sir Aurel Stein and this manuscript, the oldest known go manual, has since then been in the British Museum, but the text has become known only very recently. The Qijing mentions twice: "The Wu Diagrams, 24 positions", but regrettably gives no diagrams or details. It seems likely, from what exists in other old documents and from the conservative nature of the Chinese literary tradition, that these were complete games.

Stylistically, the poem (a jueju or our-line poem of 5 or 7 characters a line, with strict tonal and rhyming rules) is a succession of pregnant contrasts and implications. The repeated farewells are meant to imply intimate friendship. In the first two lines the words are light but the meaning is heavy. It is poignant that a game of go requires two to play but after they part he will be on his own - hence the "solitary" lantern. Light and shadow hints at the black and white of the go stones. The wind suggests autumn and the snow winter, sadly implying a long separation. Almost certainly, by saying he will divert himself by playing over the clearly classic Diagrams of Wu, he is politely saying he will play over the previous games with his friend, to pretend he was there with him. This also seems to suggest the Diagrams of Wu were actually games.