Du Fu octaves

Octaves by Du Fu 杜甫 (712–770)

Translated by TIEN TRAN
Last updated 7/20/2022
Warwick, RI

Table of Contents

1. Foreword
2. Visiting Fengxian Temple at Longmen
   遊龍門奉先寺
3. Gazing at the Marchmount
   望岳
4. On a Watch Tower in Yanzhou
   登兗州城樓
5. Inscribed on Hermit Zhang’s Dwelling – 2 Poems
   題張氏隱居二首
6. With Several Noble Gentlemen Taking Singing Girls to Enjoy the Cool at Yard Eight Canal: On the Verge of Evening It Rained – 2 Poems
   陪諸貴公子丈八溝攜妓納涼晚際遇雨
7. Lamenting Fall Rains – 3 Poems
   秋雨歎三首
8. Moonlight Night
   月夜
9. Mourning Chentao
   悲陳陶
10. Mourning Qingban
    悲青板
11. Facing Snow (I)
    對雪（戰哭多新鬼）
12. Spring View
    春望
13. Watching the Moon on the 105th Night
    一百五日夜對月
14. Spring Night in the Left Office
    春宿左省
15. Meandering River – 2 Poems
    曲江二首
16. Second Year of Zhide, I Left the Capital through Jinguang Gate, Found My Way to Fengxiang...
    至德二載，甫自京金光門出，間道歸鳳翔……
17. Early Autumn, Miserable Heat, Papers Piling Up
    早秋苦熱, 堆案相仍
18. Standing Alone
    獨立
19. Miscellaneous Poems of Qinzhou – Nos. 2, 4, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 & 19 of 20 Poems
    秦州雜詩（其二、四、七、十、十二、十三、十四、十六、十七、十九）
20. Remembering My Brothers on a Moonlit Night
    月夜憶舍弟
21. Thinking of Li Bai at Sky’s End
    天末懷李白
22. Overnight in Abbot Zan’s Quarters
    宿贊公房
23. Rain Clears
    雨晴
24. Heaven’s River
    天河
25. New Moon
    初月
26. Firefly
    螢火
27. Taking Down a Trellis
    除架
28. Gazing in the Wilds (I)
    野望（清秋望不极）
29. Empty Purse
    空囊
30. Seeing a Friend off on a Long Journey
    送遠
31. Songs Composed While Living in Tonggu Province During the Qianyuan Era – 7 Poems
    乾元中寓居同谷縣作歌七首
32. Siting House
    蔔居
33. The Premier of Shu
    蜀相
34. Plum Rains
    梅雨
35. A Guest Comes (I)
    賓至（幽棲地僻經過少）
36. Southern Neighbor
    南鄰
37. Going Outside the City
    出郭
38. A Guest Comes (II)
    客至（舍南舍北皆春水）
39. Spring Night, Joy in Rain
    春夜喜雨
40. Sunset
    落日
41. Alas
    可惜
42. On the River Seeing the Waters Rise Like a Sea: A Brief Account
    江上值水如海勢聊短述
43. On the River Deck Expressing My Feelings
    水檻遣心二首
44. Late Clearing (I)
    晚晴（村晚驚風度）
45. Boating
    進艇
46. I Haven’t Seen
    不見
47. Farewell Poem for He Yong
    贈別何邕
48. Gazing in the Wilds (II)
    野望（西山白雪三城戍）
49. Hiding Tracks – 3 Poems
    屏跡三首
50. A Rustic Sends Crimson Cherries
    野人送朱櫻
51. At Fengji Station, Again Bidding Lord Yan Goodbye, in Four Rhymes
    奉濟驛重送嚴公四韻
52. Night Away from Home
    客夜
53. Gazing in the Wilds (III)
    野望（金華山北涪水西）
54. Upon Hearing That Royal Troops Have Taken Henan and Hebei
    聞官軍收河南河北
55. Sending off Lu Six, Attendant Going to Court
    送路六侍禦入朝
56. At a Familiar Inn
    客舊館
57. Mountain Journey from Langzhou Taking My Wife and Children Back to Shu – 3 Poems
    自閬州領妻子卻赴蜀山行三首
58. Bidding Goodbye to Grand Marshal Fang’s Grave
    別房太尉墓
59. Overnight at Headquarters
    宿府
60. Weary Night
    倦夜
61. Celebrating Rain
    喜雨
62. Yu’s Temple
    禹廟
63. Thoughts on a Night Abroad
    旅夜書懷
64. Farewell to the Departing Mr. Chang
    別常征君
65. From the Highest Tower of Baidi Citadel
    白帝城最高樓
66. Late Clearing (II)
    晚晴（返照斜初徹）
67. Reflected Rays (I)
    返照（楚王宮北正黃昏）
68. Clear Skies – 2 Poems
    晴二首
69. White Emperor
    白帝
70. Midnight
    中宵
71. Sleepless
    不寐
72. Night (I)
    夜
73. Thatch House
    草閣
74. Overnight in the Riverside Tower
    宿江邊閣
75. To My Fifth Brother Feng
    第五弟豐獨在江左......（其二）
76. Autumn Moods – 8 Poems
    秋興八首
77. Singing of Feelings on Historical Traces – Nos. 1, 2 & 3 of 5 Poems
    詠懷古跡五首（其一、二、三）
78. Bridal Chamber
    洞房
79. Musk Deer
    麂
80. Paired Cliffs of Qutang Gorge
    瞿塘兩崖
81. At Qutang, Meditating on Antiquity
    瞿唐懷古
82. Tower Night
    閣夜
83. River Plums
    江梅
84. Late Spring
    暮春
85. Dawn Rain
    晨雨
86. Seeing Fireflies
    見螢火
87. Fall’s Clarity
    秋清
88. Autumn Wilds – 5 Poems
    秋野五首
89. Reflected Rays (II)
    返照（返照開巫峽）
90. Toward Evening
    向夕
91. Night of the Sixteenth, Enjoying Moonlight
    十六夜玩月
92. Moon on the Night of the Seventeenth
    十七夜對月
93. Morning View
    曉望
94. Twilight
    暝
95. Night (II)
    夜
96. Depending on Meng of the Granaries to Take a Letter and Seek Out My Old Estate at Tulou
    憑孟倉曹將書覓土婁舊莊
97. Climbing High
    登高
98. Deaf
    耳聾
99. Night – 2 Poems
    夜二首
100. Rain – 4 Poems
     雨四首
101. By the Yangtze, Stars and Moon – 2 Poems
     江邊星月二首
102. Moonlit Boat Opposite a Temple Near the Post-Station
     舟月對驛近寺
103. Night Return
     夜歸
104. Evening Return
     暮歸
105. Mountain Inn
     山館
106. In Gongan Seeing off Wei Two Sheriff Kuangzan
     公安送韋二少府匡贊
107. Deep Winter
     冬深
108. Leaving Gongan at Dawn
     曉發公安
109. Mooring Beneath Yueyang’s City Wall
     泊岳陽城下
110. Climbing Yueyang Tower
     登岳陽樓
111. Staying at Baisha Station
     宿白沙驛
112. Gazing in the wilds (IV)
     野望（納納乾坤大）
113. Yangtze and Han
     江漢
114. Corner of Earth
     地隅
115. Facing Snow (II)
     對雪（北雪犯長沙）
116. A Guest From
     客從
117. Written in a Boat on Little Cold Food
     小寒食舟中作
118. Crossing Lake Dongting
     過洞庭湖
119. Bibliography
120. Some quotes on Du Fu

Foreword

This small selection of Du Fu’s octaves follows the text given in The Poetry of Du Fu, a complete bilingual edition of the poems edited and translated by Stephen Owen, published by De Gruyter in 2016. Owen’s edition reproduces the chronological arrangement of Qiu Zhao’ao’s classic Du shi xiangzhu (The Poetry of Du Fu, Fully Annotated) from the Qing Dynasty. Each poem here is followed by a cross reference to Qiu/Owen, consisting of a book and poem number, then a year of composition in brackets. It should be remembered that dates for Du Fu are derived from the poems themselves and therefore can be convenient or highly conjectural. De Gruyter’s edition, as of right now fully accessible online, is a tremendous standard text for English-speaking students of Du Fu. Anyone who is interested in the body of works should look for these supremely authoritative, meticulously accurate scholarly translations. For me, they have been a gift beyond measure.

I’m indebted to many others besides, but would like to mention specially William Hung, whose seminal biography, containing nearly 400 poems in wonderful prose translations, remains a marvelous introduction to the poet in English; and David McCraw, whose passionate discourse on the late octaves is inspiring. I’m conscious of having borrowed from McCraw specifically in a number of poems, as indicated in the notes, and from his methods more generally. A short bibliography in the back identifies these and other sources that have guided me in this project. The notes combine their comments and my own enthusiasm for certain moments.

Tang poetry is built on such strong and intricate conventions – as it has often been said – that it’s difficult to convey in English the extraordinary beauty of these maximally chiseled, yet superbly graceful lines of verse. The best that a translator can do is to translate as literally as possible, and practice as much as possible the verbal economy that Tang poetry perfected and Du Fu exploited to the fullest. These fragile ideals often run counter to the practicalities of translation, however. For this and other reasons, including undoubtedly many errors, I do beg the reader’s patience. I don’t think I need to apologize to the famously good-natured poet, however, who I’m sure would suffer my translations in stride, with much understanding and wry, but compassionate humor!

Ballad of the Youth

Of what clan is this elegant gentleman?
Rides up to the steps, dismounts, and sits on my bench.
Without announcing his name, a hero indeed,
He points to the silver jug and demands a drink of wine!

--Du Fu, 768

遊龍門奉先寺

已從招提遊
更宿招提境

陰壑生虛籟
月林散清影

天闕象緯逼
雲臥衣裳冷

欲覺聞晨鐘
金人發深省

1.1 [c. 740]

Visiting Fengxian Temple at Longmen

I’ve gone to see the temple
Now stay in the temple’s precincts

Dark caves spawn empty whistles
Moonlit trees scatter cool rays

Sky Gate nears stars’ weave
Lying in a cloud chills my clothes

Waking, I hear the early bell
That I may rise today deeply awake

望岳

岱宗夫如何
齊魯青未了

造化鍾神秀
陰陽割昏曉

盪胸生曾雲
決眥入歸鳥

會當凌絕頂
一覽眾山小

1.2 [c. 740]

Gazing at the Marchmount

What is it like then, Mount Tai
Over Qi and Lu, endlessly green

Creation gathers divine beauty
North and south dividing dusk and daybreak

Chest heaves at heaped clouds rising
Eye-sockets burst – enter birds returning

Someday I’ll climb to the highest peak
See in one glance all other mountains small

Notes

Qi and Lu – ancient states. Mount Tai, in the middle of this region in the East, was the most revered of ancient China’s sacred peaks, from earliest days an important ceremonial center associated with birth and renewal.

This early octave has long been admired for its audacity and brilliance. “Eye-sockets burst” has precedent in a line by Sima Xiangru 司馬相如 (2nd cen. BCE), describing a hunt, and Daniel Hsieh has argued that the image alludes to Du Fu’s unexpected failure in the exams of 735, after which he embarked on extensive travels in the East. Here it is the viewer’s eyes that burst, straining to see birds returning from outer atmosphere, perhaps as souls were said to return to Mount Tai after death.

登兗州城樓

東郡趨庭日
南樓縱目初

浮雲連海岱
平野入青徐

孤嶂秦碑在
荒城魯殿餘

從來多古意
臨眺獨躊躇

1.3 [c. 740]

On a Watch Tower in Yanzhou

East Province, day I visit my father
South Tower – for the first time I look out

Floating clouds join the sea and Mt. Tai
The level wilds reach Qing and Xu

On a solitary peak, Qin’s tablet stands
In a deserted city, Lu halls’ remains

I’ve always thought much of the past
Gazing out far, alone, I’m full of doubt

Notes

Qing and Xu – ancient provinces; geographically the same as Qi and Lu above.

Qin’s tablet – On the first inspection tour of the recently conquered eastern regions of his new empire, Qin Shi Huang ordered the inscription of tablets or steles on the top of seven mountains to record his deed. The one on Mt. Yi, near Confucius’ birthplace, was well known during Tang times. Sima Qian of the Han wrote that, in its quest to consolidate power, Qin buried Confucianists and burned their books.

Lu halls – Prince Gong of Lu was said to have accidentally revealed lost Confucian manuscripts, when he ordered the destruction of Confucius’ home in order to expand his own palaces.

題張氏隱居二首

其一

春山無伴獨相求
伐木丁丁山更幽

澗道餘寒歷冰雪
石門斜日到林丘

不貪夜識金銀氣
遠害朝看麋鹿遊

乘興杳然迷出處
對君疑是泛虛舟

1.4 [744]

Inscribed on Hermit Zhang’s Dwelling

No. 1

Spring hills, without a companion, alone I came searching
Felling a tree, ax echoes made the hills more remote

The creek trail, in remnant cold, traversed frozen snow
From Stone Gate, slanting rays reached the wooded knoll

Without ambition, nightly one knows gold and silver auras
Far from harm, at dawn sees deer browsing

In high mood, absorbed, I forget service and retreat
Facing you, it’s like I’m drifting on an empty boat

其二

之子時相見
邀人晚興留

霽潭鱣發發
春草鹿呦呦

杜酒偏勞勸
張梨不外求

前村山路險
歸醉每無愁

No. 2

This gentleman I sometimes see
Invites me by evening’s mood to stay

In the clear stream, carps splash
Through spring vegetation, deer bleat

Du wine you still press
Zhang pears aren’t beyond request

Outside a village, on hilly roads dangerous
Returning drunk, each time I’m without worries

Notes

Du wine – very good wine, in reference to Du Kang, the legendary inventor of wine; Zhang pears – very sweet pears, as cataloged in the “Rhapsody on Idle Living” by Pan Yue 潘岳 (3rd cen.). The allusions play on the poet’s and host’s names, obviously!

陪諸貴公子丈八溝攜妓納涼晚際遇雨

其一

落日放船好
輕風生浪遲

竹深留客處
荷淨納涼時

公子調冰水
佳人雪藕絲

片雲頭上黑
應是雨催詩

3.8 [754]

With Several Noble Gentlemen Taking Singing Girls to Enjoy the Cool at Yard Eight Canal: On the Verge of Evening It Rained

No. 1

Late in the day it’s pleasant to set sail
While a light breeze slowly spawns waves

Bamboo deepen, where guests tarry
Lotuses purify, when coolness is enjoyed

Young gentlemen mix icy drinks
Beauties rinse strands of lotus roots

Now clouds darken overhead
I think it’s rain to hasten on my verse

其二

雨來沾席上
風急打船頭

越女紅裙濕
燕姬翠黛愁

纜侵堤柳繫
幔卷浪花浮

歸路翻蕭颯
陂塘五月秋

No. 2

Rain comes, soaking seat-mats
Wind gusts batter the prows

Yue girls’ red skirts are drenched
Yan wenches’ green brows, crossed

Moorings encroach, tying shore willows
Curtains roll up to wave foam adrift

Our way back turns dreary and bleak
On the reservoir it’s autumn in June

Notes

This pair of lighthearted poems document the aristocratic scene in Chang’an when Du Fu was still a well-heeled young man. The ending is ominous and haunting, however, in retrospect. “On the verge of evening” is typical of the service that Stephen Owen has done for English-speaking students of Du Fu.

秋雨歎三首

其一

雨中百草秋爛死
階下決明顏色鮮

著葉滿枝翠羽蓋
開花無數黃金錢

涼風蕭蕭吹汝急
恐汝後時難獨立

堂上書生空白頭
臨風三嗅馨香泣

3.29 [754]

Lamenting Fall Rains

No. 1

In rain, a hundred autumn plants rot and die
Below the steps, the sicklepods wear a fresh look

Leaves sprout along the stalks – emerald canopy
Countless flowers bloom – shiny gold coins

But cold, miserable wind buffets you
That I fear, in later days, you’ll find it hard to stand

A scholar vainly grows old in his apartment
Facing the wind, three times he sniffs fragrance and weeps

Notes

Three times he sniffs... – This alludes to the strange, likely garbled ending to Book 10 of the Analects, which describes Confucius’ behavior in various ordinary settings. Perhaps an oblique comment on the dissolution of meaning that the rains have caused?

其二

闌風伏雨秋紛紛
四海八荒同一雲

去馬來牛不復辨
濁涇清渭何當分

禾頭生耳黍穗黑
農夫田父無消息

城中斗米換衾裯
相許寧論兩相直

No. 2

Harmful winds, leveling rains, unleash during the fall
Four seas and eight regions gathered in one cloud

A horse going and an ox coming can’t be told apart
How to distinguish the muddy Jing from the clear Wei

Grain heads grow fungus, millet clusters turn black
From farmers and field hands, no news

In the city, a peck of rice trades for silk bedding
Both sides agree – never mind relative worths

Notes

In the fall of 754, continuous rainfall caused failed harvests and widespread hardship, exacerbating the conditions that led to An Lushan’s rebellion. A peck of rice was about a two-day supply of rice for a family, according to William Hung.

其三

長安布衣誰比數
反鎖衡門守環堵

老夫不出長蓬蒿
稚子無憂走風雨

雨聲颼颼催早寒
胡雁翅溼高飛難

秋來未曾見白日
泥污後土何時乾

No. 3

Who else is like the commoner in Chang’an
I lock the barred gate and guard my small room

An old man doesn’t go out, the weeds grow tall
Children, without a care, scamper in the wind and rain

The sound of rain, whistling by, hastens on early cold
Hu geese, wings soaked, struggle to fly high

Since fall came, I haven’t seen the noonday sun
Mud pollutes sacred earth – when will it be dry

月夜

今夜鄜州月
閨中只獨看

遙憐小兒女
未解憶長安

香霧雲鬟濕
清輝玉臂寒

何時倚虛幌
雙照淚痕乾

4.18 [756]

Moonlight Night

Tonight, Fuzhou moon
In her chamber, she watches alone

Faraway, I pity our little ones
That don’t know how she misses Chang’an

Scented mist dampens cloud-like hair
In clear light, jade-white arms are cold

When shall we lean by empty curtains
Side-by-side shown, tear tracks dried

悲陳陶

孟冬十郡良家子
血作陳陶澤中水

野曠天清無戰聲
四萬義軍同日死

群胡歸來血洗箭
仍唱夷歌飲都市

都人回面向北啼
日夜更望官軍至

4.20 [756]

Mourning Chentao

Start of winter – good sons of ten provinces
Their blood became the water of Chentao’s marshes

Fields vast, skies clear – no sounds of battle
Forty thousand loyal troops in one day perished

Hu gangs return, blood bathing arrows
They sing Yi songs, drinking in the marketplace

The people look to their Emperor in the North
Day and night waiting for the royal army to arrive

Notes

In December 755, An Lushan launched his rebellion. From this point on, war and war’s displacements became the condition and continual theme of Du Fu’s poetry. It bears repeating that Du Fu’s mature poems post-date the Rebellion and reflect an empire and country in upheaval. After taking his family to safety, the poet attempted to reach Emperor Suzong’s exile court in Lingwu, but was caught and detained by the rebels in Chang’an. The following fall, the Tang moved to retake Chang’an, but suffered a crushing defeat at Chentao.

悲青坂

我軍青坂在東門
天寒飲馬太白窟

黃頭奚儿日向西
數騎彎弓敢馳突

山雪河冰野蕭瑟
青是烽煙白人骨

焉得附書與我軍
忍待明年莫倉卒

4.21 [756]

Mourning Qingban

Our troops in Qingban camped by the east gate
In winter watered horses at Taibai’s pits

Blond-heads and Xi lads daily moved west
A mounted few raised bows and dared to attack

Hills snowing, rivers frozen, the wilds desolate
Black is beacons’ smoke, white are human bones

How can I send a message to our troops
Patiently wait out the year, don’t be rash

Notes

After Chentao, Tang forces were again defeated at Qingban. Blond-heads (part of the Khitan) and Xi were non-Chinese peoples drawn into An Lushan’s cause. The poet downplays their threat and urges the army to wait for reinforcement, before launching further campaigns.

對雪

戰哭多新鬼
愁吟獨老翁

亂雲低薄暮
急雪舞迴風

瓢棄樽無綠
爐存火似紅

數州消息斷
愁坐正書空

4.23 [756]

Facing Snow (I)

Weeping war are many new ghosts
Chanting his sorrow, a single old man

Rebellious clouds lower in gray evening
Rushing snow dances in whirling wind

Ladle cast aside, my cup lacks green
In the stove remaining, fire seems red

Several provinces have gone silent
Dismally I sit, writing words in air

Notes

Lacks green – lacks wine; green indicates lees in the wine or ale.

Fire seems red – Stephen Owen cites Chen Yixin: a fire, imagined by the poet, seems to glow red.

春望

國破山河在
城春草木深

感時花濺淚
恨別鳥驚心

烽火連三月
家書抵萬金

白頭搔更短
渾欲不勝簪

4.25 [757]

Spring View

The country broken – hills and rivers remain
The city in spring – plants and trees grow deep

Feeling for the present, flowers shed tears
Hating separation, a bird’s cry startles the heart

Beacon fires span three months
A letter from home is worth countless gold coins

My gray hair from scratching has grown thin
And soon might not hold a hatpin

一百五日夜對月

無家對寒食
有淚如金波

斫卻月中桂
清光應更多

仳離放紅蕊
想像顰青蛾

牛女漫愁思
秋期猶渡河

4.29 [757]

Watching the Moon on the 105th Night

Without family I face Cold Food
Through tears like silvery waves

If one felled the cassia in the moon
Its clear light surely would increase

Alone, she doesn’t wear red flowers
I picture her brows, in sadness drawn

Cowherd and Weaver Girl, don’t mourn
Come autumn, you’ll cross the river again

Notes

Cold Food was a three-day festival beginning on the 105th day after the winter solstice (April 5th by the Gregorian calendar), during which fire was prohibited. This love poem to the poet’s wife touchingly draws from common folklore. Among many other things, the moon was said to bear a giant cassia, which Wu Gang perpetually chops at without success, since the tree heals itself. In myth, Cowherd and Weaver Girl (the stars Altair and Vega) are allowed to cross Heaven’s River (the Milky Way) once a year, on the 7th night of the 7th lunar month, to be together.

春宿左省

花隱掖垣暮
啾啾棲鳥過

星臨萬戶動
月傍九霄多

不寢聽金鑰
因風想玉珂

明朝有封事
數問夜如何

6.3 [758]

Spring Night in the Left Office

Flowers hide along the wall at dusk
Birds twitter, flying over to roost

Stars overlook countless households twinkling
The moon nears highest heaven radiant

Not sleeping, I hear golden keys
On the wind imagine jade harness chimes

With papers to prepare for dawn court
Several times I’ve asked how late it is

Notes

With massive Uighur support, Chang’an was recaptured by the Tang in winter 757. Du Fu, who had escaped to join Suzong’s court in exile, where he was given the largely symbolic post of Reminder (an official responsible for catching lapses in style or protocol), returned in the emperor’s entourage. This marked the height of the poet’s disappointing official career.

曲江二首

其一

一片花飛減卻春
風飄萬點正愁人

且看欲盡花經眼
莫厭傷多酒入唇

江上小堂巢翡翠
苑邊高冢臥騏麟

細推物理須行樂
何用浮名絆此身

6.9 [758]

Meandering River

No. 1

Every flying flower petal makes spring less
Wind-scattered, a myriad points, to make men sad

Then watch, almost gone, flowers passing the eye
Not mourning life’s injuries, wine entering the lips

On the river, at a small cottage, kingfishers nest
Outside the park, on a high mound, a qilin sleeps

Consider well the nature of things – we must be merry
What’s the use of uncertain fame – to bind one up

Notes

Qilin – a dragon horse, similar to the unicorn; i.e. statue of a qilin guarding, or in this case dozing on, an important person’s tomb.

其二

朝回日日典春衣
每日江頭盡醉歸

酒債尋常行處有
人生七十古來稀

穿花蛺蝶深深見
點水蜻蜓款款飛

傳語風光共流轉
暫時相賞莫相違

No. 2

Back from court, day after day, I pawn my spring coat
From downriver, every day, return reeling drunk

Wine debt is nothing special – there wherever I go
A lifespan of seventy years – few have lived it out

Weaving through flowers, butterflies distantly appear
Dipping into water, dragonflies slowly drift

Pass it on – fortune and glory all flow and change
Enjoy the moment together, let’s not wrong one another

Notes

An official of Du Fu’s position at this time normally would not have been pressed for money. Pawning his spring coat is, one presumes, an exaggeration – but post-Rebellion, the Tang were broke and officials could no longer count on their regular monthly salaries. Du Fu sounds a lot like Li Bai and comes close to Confucian heresy in these poems.

至德二載，甫自京金光門出，間道歸鳳翔。 乾元初，從左拾遺移華州掾，與親故別， 因出此門，有悲往事。

此道昔歸順
西郊胡正繁

至今殘破膽
應有未招魂

近得歸京邑
移官豈至尊

無才日衰老
駐馬望千門

6.28 [758]

Second Year of Zhide, I Left the Capital through Jinguang Gate, Found My Way to Fengxiang; First Year of Qianyuan, from Being Reminder of the Left to an Assistant Post in Huazhou I Am Transferred; Parting with Friends and Relations, Leaving by This Same Gate, Brings Back Sad Memories of the Past

By this road formerly I returned to service
When the western suburbs were full of foreign soldiers

To this day my courage remains shattered
A part of me I think is still gone

An attendant of the Emperor I came back
This transfer order cannot be His Majesty’s

Without talent, daily more old and weak
I stop my horse to gaze at the thousand gates

Notes

Zhide and Qianyuan were Emperor Suzong’s first and second “eras” or administrative periods, respectively. It had scarcely been a year since Du Fu returned to Chang’an; “formerly” or “long ago” points up the eventfulness of the times, as well the poet’s grief at his own situation. “Thousand gates” indicates the palace precincts, where he had served for such a short time.

早秋苦熱, 堆案相仍

七月六日苦炎蒸
對食暫餐還不能

每愁夜中自足蝎
況乃秋後轉多蠅

束帶發狂欲大叫
簿書何急來相仍

南望青松架短壑
安得赤腳蹋層冰

6.33 [758]

Early Autumn, Miserable Heat, Papers Piling Up

Seventh month, sixth day, in miserable steamy heat
Facing food, a makeshift meal, I can’t eat

Nightly I worry about crawling scorpions
But worse, since fall came, the flies have burgeoned

Belt tight, going crazy, I want to scream
How can these papers still be pouring in

To the south, green pines frame a short ravine
If only I could, barefoot, tread on solid ice

Notes

After leaving Chang’an, Du Fu accepted the post of Commissioner of Education in Huazhou. This was busy, ignominious work for one such as Du Fu, and he left his post less than a year later.

獨立

空外一鷙鳥
河間雙白鷗

飄颻搏擊便
容易往來遊

草露亦多濕
蛛絲仍未收

天機近人事
獨立萬端憂

6.41 [758]

Standing Alone

High in the sky, a bird of prey
On the river, paired white gulls

Hovering, it strikes when convenient
Leisurely, they drift to and fro

Grasses are drenched in dew
A spider’s web still hasn’t caught

Heaven’s design nears man’s affairs
I stand alone, full of gloomy thoughts

秦州雜詩

其二

秦州城北寺
勝跡隗囂宮

苔蘚山門古
丹青野殿空

月明垂葉露
雲逐度溪風

清渭無情極
愁時獨向東

7.31 [759]

Miscellaneous Poems of Qinzhou

No. 2

North of Qinzhou a temple
The famous ruins of Wei Xiao’s palace

Moss and lichen, old mountain gate
Vermilion and blue, empty hall in the wilds

Moonlight shines on leaves drooping with dew
Clouds race the wind over the creek

But the clear Wei is coldest
In times of sorrow alone heading east

Notes

Wei Xiao was a warlord who ruled the region, nowadays eastern Gansu, until defeated by the resurgent Han in 33 AD.

Alone heading east – without the poet, that is.

其四

鼓角緣邊郡
川原欲夜時

秋聽殷地發
風散入雲悲

抱葉寒蟬靜
歸山獨鳥遲

萬方聲一概
吾道竟何之

No. 4

Drums and bugles surround the frontier district
Rivers and plains will soon be night

Autumn I hear issue from the vast land
Winds scatter into the clouds a lament

Clasping leaves, cicadas cold silence
Returning to mountains, a bird alone tarries

Countless directions sound one fate
My way will lead me where from here

其七

莽莽萬重山
孤城山谷間

無風雲出塞
不夜月臨關

屬國歸何晚
樓蘭斬未還

煙塵獨長望
衰颯正摧顏

No. 7

Overgrown, countless rugged peaks
Lonely city, inside the mountain valley

No wind, but clouds cross the border
Not yet night, though moon overlooks the pass

The envoy returns why so late
Beheading Loulan, one hasn’t come back

Smoke and dust alone I gaze on
Failing strength sallows my looks

Notes

The envoy – Su Wu, sent by Emperor Wu of Han, was detained among the Xiongnu for nineteen years, before returning to the empire.

Beheading Loulan... – Fu Jiezi, sent by Emperor Zhao of Han, beheaded King Angui of Loulan in 77 BCE. Du Fu’s journey in the Southwest figures as a journey back in time. In the wake of An Lushan’s rebellion, the western regions were once again unconquered, the Han’s empire-making undone or incomplete.

其十

雲氣接崑崙
涔涔塞雨繁

羌童看渭水
使客向河源

煙火軍中幕
牛羊嶺上村

所居秋草靜
正閉小蓬門

No. 10

Cloud vapor reaches Kunlun
Falling thick, border rain proliferates

A native boy watches Wei current
The envoy nears a river’s source

Smoky fires – encampment of the army
Oxen and goats – village on the ridge

Where I live autumn plants hush
Now as the small weedy gate shuts

Notes

The envoy – Zhang Qian of the Han was said to have found the Yellow River’s source.

其十二

山頭南郭寺
水號北流泉

老樹空庭得
清渠一邑傳

秋花危石底
晚景臥鐘邊

俛仰悲身世
溪風為颯然

No. 12

On the hilltop, South Fort Temple
By a stream called North Flowing Spring

Old trees in the empty courtyard profit
The clear channel to a whole village flows

Autumn flowers under tall rocks
Evening shadows beside a fallen bell

In a moment I mourn for my world
While inlet wind turns cold and sharp

其十三

傳道東柯谷
深藏數十家

對門藤蓋瓦
映竹水穿沙

瘦地翻宜粟
陽坡可種瓜

船人近相報
但恐失桃花

No. 13

It’s said that Eastern Bough Valley
Hides in its depths a few ten families

Facing their gates, vines cover roof tiles
Lighting bamboo, water cuts through sand

The poor soil in fact suits millet
On the south slope, it’s possible to grow squash

A boatman recently told me
Your only fear is not finding peach blossoms

Notes

Peach blossoms – i.e. the way to Peach Blossom Spring, a utopia of perfect peace and contentment, cut off from the tumultuous outside world, as described in a fable by Tao Chien. Following peach blossoms on the current, a fisherman stumbled upon Peach Blossom Spring by accident, but unfortunately could not find it again after leaving.

The boatman’s words are deliciously ambiguous. Tonggu turned out to be a disaster, and “Peach Blossom Spring is nowhere found,” the poet would write in a later poem.

其十四

萬古仇池穴
潛通小有天

神魚人不見
福地語真傳

近接西南境
長懷十九泉

何時一茅屋
送老白雲邊

No. 14

Countless ages old, Jiu Lake Grotto
Connects within to a lesser heaven

Though the magic fish isn’t seen
This is blessed ground, as truly said

Nearing the southwestern border
Always I think of its nineteen springs

When shall a single thatch hut
Send me off to old age beside white clouds

其十六

東柯好崖谷
不與眾峰群

落日邀雙鳥
晴天卷片雲

野人矜絕險
水竹會平分

採藥吾將老
兒童未遣聞

No. 16

Eastern Bough’s beautiful rocky valley
Stands out from ranged peaks

Sunsets lure pairs of birds
Clear skies roll up wisps of clouds

Rustics boast of its isolation
Bamboo and water in equal parts

Picking medicinal herbs, there I’ll grow old
Though I haven’t confided in the children

其十七

邊秋陰易久
不復辨晨光

簷雨亂淋幔
山雲低度牆

鸕鶿窺淺井
蚯蚓上深堂

車馬何蕭索
門前百草長

No. 17

Frontier autumn’s gloom deepens
No more distinct dawns’ brightness

Rain from the eaves splatters curtains
Mountain clouds lower over the wall

The cormorant stares into a shallow well
Earthworms crawl deep into the cottage

Human traffic – how thin and sparse
Outside the gate, a hundred plants grow tall

其十九

鳳林戈未息
魚海路常難

候火雲峰峻
懸軍幕井乾

風連西極動
月過北庭寒

故老思飛將
何時議築壇

No. 19

War in Fenglin hasn’t ceased
The way to Yuhai, right now difficult

Signal fires blur towering peaks
Advance troops camp among dry wells

Endless wind rattles the western sky
The moon crosses North Court frigid

Old fellows remember the Flying General
When will we discuss building an altar

Notes

North Court – name of the military circuit comprising Qinzhou. The “Flying General” refers to Li Guang, a famous general of the Han.

Building an altar – to commission a general, according to Stephen Owen. Han Gaozu built an altar to commission his general Han Xin.

月夜憶舍弟

戍鼓斷人行
邊秋一雁聲

露從今夜白
月是故鄉明

有弟皆分散
無家問死生

寄書長不達
況乃未休兵

7.51 [759]

Remembering My Brothers on a Moonlit Night

War drums cut off human travel
Frontier autumn – lone goose’s cry

Starting tonight, dew will be white
The moon, bright as in our homeland

I have brothers, all scattered
No one to ask whether living or dead

Letters sent long have not arrived
Worse still when fighting hasn’t ceased

天末懷李白

涼風起天末
君子意如何

鴻雁幾時到
江湖秋水多

文章憎命達
魑魅喜人過

應共冤魂語
投詩贈汨羅

7.52 [759]

Thinking of Li Bai at Sky’s End

Cool wind rises at sky’s end
How do you think, gentleman

Swans and geese, when will they arrive
Rivers and lakes autumn waters magnify

Literature deplores a successful life
Demons rejoice when humans err

Do have a word with that wronged ghost
Cast poems in gift to the Miluo

Notes

The Miluo was where the poet Qu Yuan 屈原 (3rd cen. BCE) drowned himself, after having been wrongfully banished. It was a custom to offer poems to the poet’s spirit in the river. Li Bai was at this time wandering in exile in the Southeast.

宿贊公房

杖錫何來此
秋風已颯然

雨荒深院菊
霜倒半池蓮

放逐寧違性
虛空不離禪

相逢成夜宿
隴月向人圓

7.53 [759]

Overnight in Abbot Zan’s Quarters

How came your tin cane to this place
Fall wind has already turned biting

Rain rots chrysanthemums in the deep court
Frost fells lotuses through half of the pond

Exile, how can it offend you
Nothingness you never cease meditating

Meeting you, I lodge overnight
Longtou’s moon toward us is full

Notes

Tin cane – The khakkhara was originally a Buddhist monk’s begging implement, consisting of a staff topped with metal rings that rattle to alert sentient beings. It came to symbolize an abbot’s authority in China. A note appended to the title reads: “He was abbot of Dayun Monastery in the Capital, is banished and resting here.” 京中大雲寺主，謫此安置。 Like Du Fu, Abbot Zan was a member of Fang Guan’s clique and was sent from the capital after his downfall.

雨晴

天際秋雲薄
從西萬里風

今朝好晴景
久雨不妨農

塞柳行疏翠
山梨結小紅

胡笳樓上發
一雁入高空

7.60 [759]

Rain Clears

At sky’s border, autumn clouds faint
From the west, countless-mile winds

Bright lovely scene this morning
Farming unspoiled by long rains

Frontier willows stir fading green
Mountain pears gather small reds

Native reed-pipe on the tower sings out
One goose enters into clear skies

天河

當時任顯晦
秋至輒分明

縱被微雲掩
終能永夜清

含星動雙闕
伴月落邊城

牛女年年渡
何曾風浪生

7.65 [759]

Heaven’s River

With the time, is revealed or dimmed
Come fall, immediately turns bright

Though shadowed by faint clouds
In the end it’s clear the long night

Storing stars, drifting over twin towers
Moon’s companion, setting outside the city

Year after year, Cowherd and Weaver Girl cross
And never do winds and waves rise

Notes

Heaven’s River – the Milky Way, which was known by various names. For the myth of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, please see note to Watching the Moon on the 105th Night. This is one of Du Fu’s more famous yongwu 詠物 or poems of appreciative description.

初月

光細弦豈上
影斜輪未安

微升古塞外
已隱暮雲端

河漢不改色
關山空自寒

庭前有白露
暗滿菊花團

7.66 [759]

New Moon

Faintly bright, the crescent now rises
Its shadow slants, its rim not yet settled

A smidgen over the ancient pass
Already hidden by twilight clouds

The Milky Way hasn’t changed appearance
Among border mountains the sky turns cold

Before the yard there’s white dew
Darkly covering chrysanthemums one and all

螢火

幸因腐草出
敢近太陽飛

未足臨書卷
時能點客衣

隨風隔幔小
帶雨傍林微

十月清霜重
飄零何處歸

7.70 [759]

Firefly

Luckily, from rotten grass you’ve risen
Unafraid to fly near the sun

Not bright enough to read a book
At times you can blotch exiles’ clothes

On the wind, outside the screen, small
Under rain, at the forest’s edge, minute

Come November, frost cold and thick
Scattered, where will you run

Notes

A satire of the powerful court eunuch Li Fuguo, according to William Hung. Li was responsible for the demotion and exile of many people the poet considered friends. Fireflies were commonly believed to be born from rotting vegetation. The satire also works brilliantly as a descriptive poem.

除架

束薪已零落
瓠葉轉蕭疏

幸結白花了
寧辭青蔓除

秋蟲聲不去
暮雀意何如

寒事今牢落
人生亦有初

8.1 [759]

Taking Down a Trellis

Tied sticks already tumble and fall
Gourd leaves become withered and sparse

When white flowers have borne fruit
How can you refuse to take the green vines down

Autumn insects – their sound hasn’t departed
Evening sparrows – what are their thoughts

Cold things now lie in waste
Human life, too, has such beginnings

野望

清秋望不極
迢遞起層陰

遠水兼天淨
孤城隱霧深

葉稀風更落
山迥日初沈

獨鶴歸何晚
昏鴉已滿林

8.6 [759]

Gazing in the Wilds (I)

Clear autumn, inexhaustible sight
Across distances, layered shadows rise

Far waters with the sky are calm
The lone city hides under thick fog

Sparse leaves in wind still fall
Over hills, the sun begins to set

A single crane returns – why so late
Evening’s crows have covered the forest

空囊

翠柏苦猶食
明霞朝可餐

世人共鹵莽
吾道屬艱難

不爨井晨凍
無衣床夜寒

囊空恐羞澀
留得一錢看

8.7 [759]

Empty Purse

Green cedar, bitter, is yet food
Bright morning rays, sustenance

People of the world are rude
Mine is a difficult road

No cooking – the well at dawn frozen
Without robes – bed in the night cold

Purse empty, I fear the sting of shame
And keep a single coin, for looking in

送遠

帶甲滿天地
胡為君遠行

親朋盡一哭
鞍馬去孤城

草木歲月晚
關河霜雪清

別離已昨日
因見古人情

8.11 [759]

Seeing a Friend off on a Long Journey

While fighters overrun the world
Why must you journey far

Friends and family to a person weep
Your saddled horse leaves the lonely city

Plants and trees – the year is late
Passes and rivers – snow and frost are pure

Parting was already “yesterday”
In this we know how ancients felt

Notes

The seventh line alludes to “An Old Song of Parting” by Jiang Yan (5th cen.), which contains the line, “It seems like yesterday that I saw you off.”

乾元中寓居同谷縣作歌七首

其一

有客有客字子美
白頭亂髮垂過耳

歲拾橡栗隨狙公
天寒日暮山谷里

中原無書歸不得
手腳凍皴皮肉死

嗚呼一歌兮歌已哀
悲風為我從天來

8.39 [759]

Songs Composed While Living in Tonggu Province During the Qianyuan Era

Du Fu

No. 1

There’s a wanderer, there’s a wanderer styled Zimei
White head of disheveled hair down past his ears

For harvest he gathers acorn, following the monkey keeper
In cold weather, at sunset, among hills and caves

From the central plains, no letters – no way back
Hands and feet frozen stiff, skin numb and hard

O woe! the first song oh! already a pitiful song
Sorrowful wind, on my account, from the sky descends

Notes

The monkey keeper – from Zhuangzi, who was able to placate his monkeys by offering them three acorns in the morning and four acorns in the evening, instead of the other way around. In other words, the quantity of food is meager and unchanging day to day.

其二

長鑱長鑱白木柄
我生託子以為命

黃獨無苗山雪盛
短衣數挽不掩脛

此時與子空歸來
男呻女吟四壁靜

嗚呼二歌兮歌始放
閭里為我色惆悵

No. 2

Long harrow, long harrow, handle of white wood
My life depends on you, as though on fate

Wild taro no longer sprouts, snow on the peaks piles up
I pull at a short tunic that leaves my shins exposed

This time you and I return empty-handed
Son complains, daughter cries out, the four walls keep silent

O woe! the second song oh! song starting to take off
Neighbors, on my account, appear distraught

其三

有弟有弟在遠方
三人各瘦何人強

生別展轉不相見
胡塵暗天道路長

東飛鴐鵝後鶖鶬
安得送我置汝旁

嗚呼三歌兮歌三發
汝歸何處收兄骨

 

No. 3

I have brothers, I have brothers in far regions
Three brothers, all frail – which ones strong now

Lives scattered, moving round, never meeting up
Barbarian dust darkens the sky – endless ways and roads

East fly the wildgeese, soon cranes follow suit
But how can they carry me to peace, deposit me at your side

O woe! the third song oh! song three times sung
Where will you search to gather your elder brother’s bones

其四

有妹有妹在鐘離
良人早歿諸孤癡

長淮浪高蛟龍怒
十年不見來何時

扁舟欲往箭滿眼
杳杳南國多旌旗

嗚呼四歌兮歌四奏
林猿為我啼清晝

No. 4

I have a sister, I have a sister in Zhongli
Her husband died early, the orphans were dazed

On the long Huai, high waves, serpents' fury
Ten years we haven’t met – when will I go to her

My small boat threatens to capsize, arrows fill my eyes
Like a mist, banners and flags cover the South

O woe! the fourth song oh! four songs offered up
Forest gibbons, on my account, make cry in clear daylight

其五

四山多風溪水急
寒雨颯颯枯樹濕

黃蒿古城雲不開
白狐跳梁黃狐立

我生何為在窮谷
中夜起坐萬感集

嗚呼五歌兮歌正長
魂招不來歸故鄉

No. 5

Four sides windy mountains, precipitous streams
Cold rains falling thick, splashing dry trees

Yellow weeds, ancient city – clouds never part
A white fox scurries away, a brown fox stands and looks

Why do I stay in this desperate valley
In the night I rise or sit, gathering countless worries

O woe! the fifth song oh! song long enough
My summoned soul, returning home, hasn’t come back

其六

南有龍兮在山湫
古木巃嵷枝相樛

木葉黃落龍正蟄
蝮蛇東來水上遊

我行怪此安敢出
拔劍欲斬且復休

嗚呼六歌兮歌思遲
溪壑為我回春姿

No. 6

In the South, there’s a dragon that lives in a mountain lake
Ancient trees tower high above, branches weaving thick

When leaves yellow and fall, the dragon curls up and sleeps
From the east, adders and cobras come, swimming the surface

I go marveling at this – dare I sally forth
Draw my dagger to fight, but back off again

O woe! the sixth song oh! song of late worries
Creeks and caves, on my account, bring back spring’s loveliness

其七

男兒生不成名身已老
三年飢走荒山道

長安卿相多少年
富貴應須致身早

山中儒生舊相識
但話宿昔傷懷抱

嗚呼七歌兮悄終曲
仰視皇天白日速

No. 7

Born male, before achieving fame, I’m already grown old
For three years hungrily running desolate mountain roads

Chang’an’s highest officials are many youths
Wealth and rank – they must early give their lives

In the mountains, scholars who knew each other long ago
Talk only of old things – painful remembrances

O woe! the seventh song oh! song ending in silence
I look up, through majestic sky the white sun plummets

Notes

The white sun refers to Xuanzong and, by extension, to the world-order that plummeted during the poet’s lifetime. An astonishing sequence of old-style poems – not octaves in any conventional sense – almost unhinged and hysterical, but at the same time intensely wrought and eerily beautiful.

卜居

浣花流水水西頭
主人為卜林塘幽

已知出郭少塵事
更有澄江銷客愁

無數蜻蜓齊上下
一雙鸂鶒對沈浮

東行萬里堪乘興
須向山陰上小舟

9.14 [760]

Siting House

By Huanhua’s flowing waters, at the waters’ west end
The owner sites his house, with woods and pond secluded

I knew that, outside the city, there’d be few worldly bothers
What more, the clear river dispels a wanderer’s sorrow

Numberless, dragonflies together rise and fall
A pair of mandarin ducks facing each other dive and float

To journey east, countless miles, may yet be inspired
I must turn for mountains’ shadow, in a small boat

Notes

“Countless miles” alludes to the Countless Miles Bridge nearby, where Zhuge Liang (see below) was said to have sent off the envoy Fei Yi going to Eastern Wu with the words, “A journey of countless miles begins right here.”

蜀相

丞相祠堂何處尋
錦官城外柏森森

映階碧草自春色
隔葉黃鸝空好音

三顧頻煩天下計
兩朝開濟老臣心

出師未捷身先死
長使英雄淚滿襟

9.23 [760]

The Premier of Shu

Where is it found, the temple of that Premier
Outside Brocade City, where cypresses grow dense

Lighting the steps, turquoise grass in self-same springtime
Orioles wasting sweet music among the boughs

Thrice sought, burdened with the world’s affairs
For two reigns the veteran gave his heart

Leading the army out, before victory he died
Making heroes since wet their sleeves with tears

Notes

The Premier is Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮 (3rd cen.), revered statesman, loyal adviser to the state of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period, and Du Fu’s personal hero. “Brocade City” refers to Chengdu.

梅雨

南京犀浦道
四月熟黄梅

湛湛長江去
冥冥細雨來

茅茨疏易溼
雲霧密難開

竟日蛟龍喜
盤渦與岸迴

9.24 [760]

Plum Rains

On South Capital’s Xipu road
In May ripen yellow plums

Deep and clear the great river departs
Dark and faint evening rains come

Sparse thatch roofs easily soak
Thick clouds and fog hardly disperse

All day long dragons rejoice
Eddies find the riverbank and drift back out

Notes

“Plum rains” refers to the rains of late spring, when plums mature and ripen.

賓至

幽棲地僻經過少
老病人扶再拜難

豈有文章驚海內
漫勞車馬駐江干

竟日淹留佳客坐
百年粗糲腐儒餐

不嫌野外無供給
乘興還來看藥欄

9.27 [760]

A Guest Comes (I)

In this gloomy place, few are passersby
Old and infirm, being supported, I can hardly bow

How can my writings stir the world
In vain your carriage stops along the river

All day I have detained a wonderful guest
For a hundred years, coarse rice sustains a scholar

If you don’t mind the lack of a feast in the countryside
When you feel like it, come back and see my medicinal herbs

南鄰

錦裏先生烏角巾
園收芋栗不全貧

慣看賓客兒童喜
得食階除鳥雀馴

秋水纔深四五尺
野航恰受兩三人

白沙翠竹江村暮
相對柴門月色新

9.41 [760]

Southern Neighbor

Brocade Mile’s gentleman with raven cornered cap
Harvests taro and chestnuts in his garden – not entirely poor

Often seeing visitors, children rejoice
Finding food on the steps, birdlings grow tame

Autumn waters recently deepened four or five feet
A rural boat neatly carries two or three persons

White sand, turquoise bamboo – the river village dims
We say goodbye at the brushwood gate, in moonlight new

出郭

霜露晚淒淒
高天逐望低

遠煙鹽井上
斜景雪峰西

故國猶兵馬
他鄉亦鼓鼙

江城今夜客
還與舊烏啼

9.48 [760]

Going Outside the City

Frost and dew – evening biting cold
High sky – lowers as I gaze

Distant mists, rising over salt mines
Slanting shadows, west of snowy peaks

The old country still at war
Foreign lands too echo war drums

In the river city, tonight a guest
Again befriends old crows cawing

客至（喜崔明府相過）

舍南舍北皆春水
但見群鷗日日來

花徑不曾緣客掃
蓬門今始為君開

盤餐市遠無兼味
樽酒家貧只舊醅

肯與鄰翁相對飲
隔籬呼取盡餘杯

9.72 [761]

A Guest Comes (II)

North and south of the house, all spring pools
I only see flocks of gulls day after day arrive

The flowered path isn’t often on account of visitors swept
The weedy gate today only for you opens

Our meals, far from market, mingle not flavors
Wine cups, at a poor home, hold just old brew

But if you’d sit and drink with the old man next door
I’ll call him over the fence and we’ll drain the last cups

Notes

Stephen Owens notes that, for Du Fu’s distinguished guest, drinking with the commoner next door would’ve been a startling breach of decorum. The poet’s convivial neighborliness, couched in the most courtly language, masks an unconventional challenge.

春夜喜雨

好雨知時節
當春乃發生

隨風潛入夜
潤物細無聲

野徑雲俱黑
江船火獨明

曉看紅濕處
花重錦官城

10.3 [761]

Spring Night, Joy in Rain

Good rains know the season
In spring coming to life

On the wind unseen enter night
Soaking things finely without a sound

Country lanes clouds all darken
A river boat’s fire singly shines

Dawn will show such red glimmers about
Laden flowers in Old Chengdu

Notes

Old Chengdu – literally "Brocade Official City," on account of Chengdu being once a center of brocade production, whose tribute of brocade to the capital was overseen by an official. This epithet honors Chengdu, while putting a seal on the poem’s wonderful sense of joy in restoration and renewal. A perennial, popular classic!

落日

落日在簾鉤
溪邊春事幽

芳菲緣岸圃
樵爨倚灘舟

啅雀爭枝墜
飛蟲滿院遊

濁醪誰造汝
一酌散千憂

10.7 [761]

Sunset

Setting sun at curtain hooks
Beside the creek, spring’s affairs silence

Sweet scents – garden lining the bank
Wood fire – a boat against the waterfall

Noisy sparrows tumble, vying for a branch
Flying insects cruise, filling the yard

Cloudy wine, who invented you
That one sip disperses a thousand worries

可惜

花飛有底急
老去願春遲

可惜歡娛地
都非少壯時

寬心應是酒
遣興莫過詩

此意陶潛解
吾生後汝期

10.8 [761]

Alas

Flowers fall, hurry to their end
Old, I hope that spring tarries

Alas, the places of jubilation
Are not the scene of my strong youth

To rejoice the heart, welcome is wine
To give vent to feelings, best is poetry

This sentiment Tao Qian understood
But I was born after your time

江上值水如海勢聊短述

為人性僻耽佳句
語不驚人死不休

老去詩篇渾漫與
春來花鳥莫深愁

新添水檻供垂釣
故著浮槎替入舟

焉得思如陶謝手
令渠述作與同遊

10.16 [761]

On the River Seeing the Waters Rise Like a Sea: A Brief Account

I’m strange by nature, obsessed with fine sentences
If words do not startle, death itself is without rest

As I grow old, my compositions are thoroughly careless
Come spring, flowers and birds need not deeply sorrow

Newly extended, the riverside porch is for fishing
From before, a raft to float on, instead of entering a boat

Where can I find ones with thoughts like Tao and Xie
I’ll make them write as we journey together

Notes

The first couplet is often cited as evidence of Du Fu’s conscious and painstaking artistry – his obsession with craft, as we might say nowadays. The rest of the poem, including the extravagant and seemingly irrelevant title, is perhaps too clever, although undeniably beautiful. (Consider, for example, how the second couplet completely, deviously contradicts the first!)

Tao Qian 陶潛 and Xie Lingyun 謝靈運 (both 4th cen.) were revolutionary figures in Chinese poetry, founders of nature poetry as the Tang knew it. Tao Qian was particularly revered by Tang poets, including Du Fu.

水檻遣心二首

其一

去郭軒楹敞
無村眺望賒

澄江平少岸
幽樹晚多花

細雨魚兒出
微風燕子斜

城中十萬戶
此地兩三家

10.17 [761]

On the River Deck Expressing My Feelings

No. 1

Outside the city porches open wide
Not a village – the view goes far

The clear river calms along narrow banks
Quiet trees late abounds in blossoms

Under light rain, fish surface
In faint breeze, swallows slant

Within the city, ten myriad households
Around here, two or three homes

其二

蜀天常夜雨
江檻已朝晴

葉潤林塘密
衣乾枕席清

不堪祗老病
何得尚浮名

淺把涓涓酒
深憑送此生

No. 2

Shu weather often rains at night
On the river deck dawn already clears

Drenched leaves the forest pond hide
Dry clothes pillow and sitting mat cool

Though hating old age and sickness
How can I esteem uncertain fame

Lightly I hold scant cups of wine
Deeply count on them to send off this life

晚晴

村晚驚風度
庭幽過雨霑

夕陽薰細草
江色映疏簾

書亂誰能帙
杯乾自可添

時聞有餘論
未怪老夫潛

10.21 [761]

Late Clearing (I)

The late village wind gusts cross
Gloomy courtyard passing rains douse

Evening sun scents fine grass
River colors shine on open blinds

My books in disarray who can shelve
Cup empty, I’m able to pour myself

Sometimes I hear there are comments
Not faulting an old man for staying hidden

進艇

南京久客耕南畝
北望傷神坐北窗

晝引老妻乘小艇
晴看稚子浴清江

俱飛蛺蝶元相逐
並蒂芙蓉本自雙

茗飲蔗漿攜所有
瓷甖無謝玉為缸

10.31 [761]

Boating

Long a guest of South Capital, I cultivate south fields
Gazing north, spirit-wounded, I sit at the north window

Today I led my old wife into a small boat
We watched sunlit children bathing in the clear river

Flying together, butterflies ever chase each other
Sharing a stalk, lotus blossoms by nature are matched

We sipped sugarcane juice brought from the house
Ceramic jars, undisdained, become as jade vessels

不見

不見李生久
佯狂真可哀

世人皆欲殺
吾意獨憐才

敏捷詩千首
飄零酒一杯

匡山讀書處
頭白好歸來

10.60 [761]

I Haven’t Seen

I haven’t seen Master Li of old
Playing madman, truly pitiful

While the world wants to kill you
I think only of your talent to mourn

Swiftly written, a thousand poems
Cast adrift, a single cup of wine

Kuang Mountain, where you read books
White-haired, it would be lovely for you to return

贈別何邕

生死論交地
何由見一人

悲君隨燕雀
薄宦走風塵

綿谷元通漢
沱江不向秦

五陵花滿眼
傳語故鄉春

10.72 [762]

Farewell Poem for He Yong

Where we became life-long friends
When will I see this special man

Sad sir, trailing swallows, sparrows
For thankless office, hurrying in windblown dust

Mian Valley originally connects with Han
Tuo River turns not for Qin

When Five Tombs’ flowers fill the eye
Send word of spring in our old home

Notes

Mian Valley... Tuo River... – This is a poetic way of saying that He Yong is heading to Chang’an via Mian Valley, while the poet follows Tuo River in the opposite direction. The third couplet in a farewell octave conventionally describes the journey that one or both parties will take. Five Tombs or Wuling was a scenic and wealthy area of Chang’an.

野望

西山白雪三城戍
南浦清江萬里橋

海內風塵諸弟隔
天涯涕淚一身遙

唯將遲暮供多病
未有涓埃答聖朝

跨馬出郊時極目
不堪人事日蕭條

10.81 [762]

Gazing in the Wilds (II)

Amid western peaks’ white snow, three garrison forts
By southern bends’ clear stream, Countless Miles Bridge

Within the seas, windblown dust, brothers scattered
At world’s end, crying tears, lone self distant

Growing old and late, I attend to numerous ills
And haven’t a tiny mote to repay the Sagely Court

On horseback leaving the city, I strain my eyes
Unable to bear the world’s affairs, each day more desolate

屏跡三首

其一

衰年甘屏跡
幽事供高臥

鳥下竹根行
龜開萍葉過

年荒酒價乏
日併園蔬課

猶酌甘泉歌
歌長擊樽破

10.83 [762]

Hiding Tracks

No. 1

Old, it’s sweet to hide tracks
Seclusion supports my high leisure

Birds fly down, tramp bamboo roots
A turtle parts duckweed passing through

Fruitless year – wine funds are lacking
Days together I collect garden greens

Still I drink, singing of sweet fountains
Singing at length, striking the cup broken

Notes

Striking the cup broken – Forced into retirement, the rebellious Jin general Wang Dun would drink heavily and sing of his unhappiness – not of the sweet fountains of a prosperous country in good governance! – while striking his baton on a spittoon to keep time, leaving its rim chipped and cracked. Wang’s cracked or chipped spittoon became a shorthand for harboring great frustration.

其二

用拙存吾道
幽居近物情

桑麻深雨露
燕雀半生成

村鼓時時急
漁舟箇箇輕

杖藜從白首
心跡喜雙清

No. 2

Clumsy my way remains
Secluded living near creatures’ thoughts

Hemp and mulberry deepen in rain and dew
Swallows and sparrows, half full-grown

Village drums the hours hurry
Fishing boats glide lightly one by one

Goosefoot cane white-haired I follow
Mind and tracks joyously matched in purity

Notes

“Mind and tracks matched in peaceful silence” 心跡雙寂寞 is a line from the poem “In My Study Reading” by Xie Lingyun, written while the poet was in exile, or demotion to a remote region. This high-minded declaration, coming so unexpectedly after the first octave, unravels in the next.

其三

晚起家何事
無營地轉幽

竹光團野色
舍影漾江流

失學從兒懶
長貧任婦愁

百年渾得醉
一月不梳頭

No. 3

I get up late – what’s there to do
Without activity, the area secludes

Bamboo shine gathers the rural scene
House shadows waver in the river’s flow

Failing at lessons, my boy grows lazy
Always poor – let my wife worry

In a lifetime, I’ve only managed to get drunk
For one month I haven’t combed my hair

野人送朱櫻

西蜀櫻桃也自紅
野人相贈滿筠籠

數迴細寫愁仍破
萬顆勻圓訝許同

憶昨賜霑門下省
退朝擎出大明宮

金盤玉箸無消息
此日嘗新任轉蓬

11.16 [762]

A Rustic Sends Crimson Cherries

Western Shu’s cherries also turn red
A rustic’s present to me fills a bamboo basket

Several times gently poured – sorrow disperses
Myriad orbs evenly round – astonishing likeness

I remember, once, a gift of grace to the Chancellery
Leaving court, we carried some out of Daming Palace

Of golden trays, jade chopsticks, there is no news
Today I taste anew the lot of tumbleweeds

Notes

Cherries of the imperial gardens were distributed yearly to officials in the capital, as part of rituals celebrating the Tang dynastic line.

The lot of tumbleweeds – the life of an exile.

奉濟驛重送嚴公四韻

遠送從此別
青山空復情

幾時杯重把
昨夜月同行

列郡謳歌惜
三朝出入榮

江村獨歸處
寂寞養殘生

11.26 [762]

At Fengji Station, Again Bidding Lord Yan Goodbye, in Four Rhymes

Long sending you off, here we part
Among green hills, vainly sad again

When will we take once more the wine cup
That last night went together in moonlight

The provinces cherish you in songs
Three reigns have called upon your success

A river village is where alone I’ll return
To nurse final days in peaceful silence

客夜

客睡何曾著
秋天不肯明

入簾殘月影
高枕遠江聲

計拙無衣食
途窮仗友生

老妻書數紙
應悉未歸情

11.41 [762]

Night Away from Home

Away from home how can I sleep
Fall sky doesn’t want to get bright

Through the curtain, dying moonlight
On my high pillow, far river sounds

My plans are clumsy – no food or clothes
At the end of the road, I rely on friends

Old wife has written several pages
She must know how I feel not being at home

野望

金華山北涪水西
仲冬風日始淒淒

山連越巂蟠三蜀
水散巴渝下五溪

獨鶴不知何事舞
饑烏似欲向人啼

射洪春酒寒仍綠
目極傷神誰為攜

11.53 [762]

Gazing in the Wilds (III)

North of Mount Jinhua, west of Fu River
Midwinter’s blustery days turn biting cold

Peaks lead to Yuexi, coiling round Three Shu
Waters disperse at Bayu, down to Five Streams

Single crane – I don’t know why it dances
Hungry crow – turns to me as if to cry out

Shotflow’s spring wine in winter is still green
I look afar, wound my spirit, but who’ll pour for me

Notes

The last couplet is adapted from David McCraw’s translation. Traditional toponyms are often majestic, but completely unwieldy in translation. Here the name “Shotflow” is crucial, figuring the torrent of grief that sweeps past the withheld flow of wine. A superb example of couplet construction!

聞官軍收河南河北

劍外忽傳收薊北
初聞涕淚滿衣裳

卻看妻子愁何在
漫卷詩書喜欲狂

白首放歌須縱酒
青春作伴好還鄉

即從巴峽穿巫峽
便下襄陽向洛陽

11.68 [763]

Upon Hearing That Royal Troops Have Taken Henan and Hebei

Beyond Jin, suddenly they say Jibei is taken
I’ve just heard the news, when tears drench my clothes

Turning to see my wife and children – how can sorrow remain
Hurriedly I roll up my poems and books – going mad for joy

White-haired, sing out – you must gulp down wine
Make verdant spring your companion – it’s good to go back home

So I’ll follow Ba Gorge, to Wu Gorge
Down to Xiangyang, then on to Luoyang

Notes

The recovery of Henan and Hebei by Tang forces signified, officially, the end of the An-Shi Rebellion. In this moment of joy, the poet pictures the journey (never completed) that he would take to join his extended family in Luoyang – a total distance of nearly 1500 miles, according to William Hung.

送路六侍御入朝

童稚情親四十年
中間消息兩茫然

更為後會知何地
忽漫相逢是別筵

不分桃花紅勝錦
生憎柳絮白於綿

劍南春色還無賴
觸忤愁人到酒邊

12.6 [763]

Sending off Lu Six, Attendant Going to Court

Since childhood, we’ve been friends forty years
In between, news of each other grew vague

If we meet again – who knows then the place
Suddenly we see each other – it’s a farewell banquet

I don’t care for peach blossoms, redder than brocade
And hate so willow catkins, white as cotton

Jiannan’s spring colors again are rude
Assailing sorrowed ones, reaching beside the wine

客舊館

陳跡隨人事
初秋別此亭

重來梨葉赤
依舊竹林青

風幔何時卷
寒砧昨夜聲

無由出江漢
愁緒日冥冥

12.53 [763]

At a Familiar Inn

Old tracks follow human affairs
In early fall, I quit this pavilion

Again, pear leaves are crimson
As ever, the bamboo forest is green

When shall my sail be furled up
Winter mallets last night sounded

No chance yet of reaching Jianghan
Troubled thoughts daily grow dark

自閬州領妻子卻赴蜀山行三首

其一

汩汩避群盜
悠悠經十年

不成向南國
復作遊西川

物役水虛照
魂傷山寂然

我生無倚著
盡室畏途邊

13.28 [764]

Mountain Journey from Langzhou Taking My Wife and Children Back to Shu

No. 1

Headlong, we fled the rebels
Constantly wandering, it’s been ten years

Not having set off for southern lands
Again I make the journey to West River

Servant to things, water’s unreal reflections
Spirit-wounded, mountains going silent

My life has no place of refuge
The whole family beside perilous roads

其二

長林偃風色
迴復意猶迷

衫裛翠微潤
馬銜青草嘶

棧懸斜避石
橋斷卻尋溪

何日干戈盡
飄飄愧老妻

No. 2

Tall forests, showing wind’s shape
Turning round, I wonder if we’re lost

Our clothes are wet, soaked by azure mists
The horse chomps on green grass and neighs

On hanging planks, we teeter avoiding rocks
The bridge severed, go back and look for the creek

When will all this fighting cease
Cast adrift, I am ashamed before my aged wife

其三

行色遞隱見
人煙時有無

僕夫穿竹語
稚子入雲呼

轉石驚魑魅
抨弓落狖鼯

真供一笑樂
似欲慰窮途

No. 3

Travelers’ shadows appear, then disappear
Human smoke, at times seen and unseen

Our servant going through bamboo talks
My boy entering into clouds shouts

A rolling rock startles goblins
Twanging bow felling monkeys and flying squirrels

Truly it’s a gift, this moment of mirth
As if to console us during our greatest need

別房太尉墓

他鄉復行役
駐馬別孤墳

近淚無乾土
低空有斷雲

對棋陪謝傅
把劍覓徐君

唯見林花落
鶯啼送客聞

13.31 [764]

Bidding Goodbye to Grand Marshal Fang’s Grave

Abroad, again I’m going to serve
Halt my horse, bid goodbye to a lonely grave

From recent tears, no dry earth
In lowering sky are broken clouds

At chess, I attended Tutor Xie
Bringing my sword, I seek the Lord of Xu

I only see flowers falling in the forest
An oriole sings, as if to bid the wanderer goodbye

Notes

“Tutor Xie” indicates the Eastern Jin minister Xie An, a brilliant and sure strategist. The story is told of his having played chess while awaiting the outcome of the Battle of Fei River; when word came that Jin forces had won, he showed no trace of emotion but calmly played on.

The unnamed Lord of Xu, on the other hand, was a gracious host and noble sword connoisseur. Prince Ji Zha of Wu (6th cen. BCE), cultural hero, once paid him a visit while on a mission to Lu. To repay his kindness, Ji wanted to gift him his fine sword, but had to wait because it was a part of his ambassadorial outfit. After completing his mission, Ji once again passed through Xu, but was distraught to learn that his host had died.

A poem of tear-choked, yet immensely decorous grief. After the tribute of the third couplet, an oriole bids both poet and the deceased, combined in the word “wanderer” (or “guest,” or “traveler”), a final goodbye.

宿府

清秋幕府井梧寒
獨宿江城蠟炬殘

永夜角聲悲自語
中天月色好誰看

風塵荏苒音書絕
關塞蕭條行路難

已忍伶俜十年事
強移棲息一枝安

14.5 [764]

Overnight at Headquarters

Clear autumn at headquarters, well-side wutong cold
In this river city I lodge alone, my candle burning out

Unending night’s bugle sounds, mournful soliloquy
Mid-sky the moon appears, splendid for whose gaze

War’s dust communications momently cuts off
Through desolate border passes, the ways are hard

After ten years of uncertain existence
Forced to move, I perch to rest, secure on a single branch

Notes

The third line can also be translated: “In unending night, the bugle’s sound – mournfully I am speaking to myself.” Or even: “In unending night, the bugle’s sound – sorrow of itself becoming words.” I am haunted by this line, which is desolate and beautiful beyond measure.

倦夜

竹涼侵臥內
野月滿庭隅

重露成涓滴
稀星乍有無

暗飛螢自照
水宿鳥相呼

萬事干戈裏
空悲清夜徂

14.9 [764]

Weary Night

Bamboo cold invades the chamber
Wild moonlight floods courtyard nooks

Heavy dewdrops form tiny trickles
Rare stars blink, there and suddenly gone

Darkly flying, fireflies on their own glow
Water-roosting, birds alternately call out

Countless affairs caught up in war
Vainly I worry, the clear night lapses

Notes

A poem of cold and strange images in uneasy juxtaposition, where the awfulness of war becomes so much a part of nature’s many eerie processes.

喜雨

南國旱無雨
今朝江出雲

入空纔漠漠
灑迥已紛紛

巢燕高飛盡
林花潤色分

晚來聲不絕
應得夜深聞

14.53 [765]

Celebrating Rain

In southern lands, drought, no rain
This morning, the river sends up clouds

They enter the sky, then darkly spread
Drizzles afar, already thick

Nesting swallows – high flights done
Forest flowers – soaked colors divide

Come evening, rain’s sound hasn’t ceased
Surely I’ll hear it late tonight

禹廟

禹廟空山裏
秋風落日斜

荒庭垂橘柚
古屋畫龍蛇

雲氣虛青壁
江深走白沙

早知乘四載
疏鑿控三巴

14.60 [765]

Yu’s Temple

Yu’s temple among empty mountains
In autumn wind late sunlight slants

Deserted courtyard – sagging oranges and pomelos
Ancient building – painted dragons and serpents

Clouds’ breath moistens green cliffs
River sounds race along white sands

Early on I learned of his riding four vehicles
To chisel and drain ruling the three regions of Ba

Notes

A hymn to Yu the Great 大禹, who dug and dredged channels to control the primordial floods that inundated China. Yu also established the calendar, taught people to farm and hunt, and was in short the very template of a virtuous and efficacious ruler. Oranges and pomelos signify the fruits of his labor, and dragons and serpents, the monsters that he expelled. Yu’s four vehicles were cart, boat, sledge, and spiked clogs – one for each type of terrain that he brought under control.

旅夜書懷

細草微風岸
危檣獨夜舟

星垂平野闊
月湧大江流

名豈文章著
官應老病休

飄零何所似
天地一沙鷗

14.63 [765]

Thoughts on a Night Abroad

Fine grass, breezing wind along the bank
With teetering mast, a boat goes alone at night

Stars droop down on quiet wilderness, vast
The moon surges, the mighty river flows

What fame can writing achieve
Officials, old and infirm, ought to quit

Drifting, what am I like
Between heaven and earth, a sand gull

別常徵君

兒扶猶杖策
臥病一秋強

白髮少新洗
寒衣寬總長

故人憂見及
此別淚相望

各逐萍流轉
來書細作行

14.67 [765]

Farewell to the Departing Mr. Chang

Supported by my son, still I lean on my cane
Having lain sick more than the autumn

White hair I rarely wash
My winter robe, tied close, is baggy and long

I see that you, too, are worried
At this parting, we both shed tears

Each of us floats like duckweeds on the current
When you write, make narrow lines

Notes

Make narrow lines – to fit more words in. “Narrow” 細 would be better translated as “fine,” with the same double meaning in English as in Chinese, so that the poet’s instruction is both deeply affecting and desperately humorous.

白帝城最高樓

城尖徑昃旌旆愁
獨立縹緲之飛樓

峽坼雲霾龍虎睡
江清日抱黿鼉遊

扶桑西枝對斷石
弱水東影隨長流

杖藜歎世者誰子
泣血迸空回白頭

15.11 [766]

From the Highest Tower of Baidi Citadel

The citadel narrows – paths steep, banners and pennons forlorn
I stand alone, gazing out from this soaring tower

The gorge splits – in billowing mist, dragons and tigers sleep
The river clears – sunlight-bound, turtles and gators cruise

Fusang’s western branch faces broken cliffs
Ruoshui’s eastern glint follows the great river’s flow

Goosefoot cane, lamenting the world – who’s this fellow
Tears of blood spatter the void – turn your white head

Notes

Fusang – the Great Mulberry or cosmic tree from which the sun rises; Ruoshui – a river that flows out of mythic Mt. Kunlun in the West. East and West, here wonderfully inverted, delimit the world, while pointing to the mythic realms that lie beyond.

In legend, King Duyu of Shu died in exile and was transformed into a cuckoo that cries tears of blood for its homeland.

晚晴

返照斜初徹
浮雲薄未歸

江虹明遠飲
峽雨落餘飛

鳧雁終高去
熊羆覺自肥

秋分客尚在
竹露夕微微

15.54 [766]

Late Clearing (II)

Reflected rays tilt, begin to fade
Drifting clouds dwindle, do not return

River arc, bright in the distance, drinks
Gorge rain falls, in remnants flying

Wildgeese are gone high above
Brown bears wake to put on fat

Autumn equinox – a wanderer still remains
Dew on bamboo – dusk dim and faint

返照

楚王宮北正黃昏
白帝城西過雨痕

返照入江翻石壁
歸雲擁樹失山村

衰年病肺惟高枕
絕塞愁時早閉門

不可久留豺虎亂
南方實有未招魂

15.57 [766]

Reflected Rays (I)

North of the Chu king’s palace, it is now dusk
West of Baidi Citadel, threads of rain pass

Reflected rays enter the river, glance off green cliffs
Returning clouds enfold trees, blot out mountain villages

Old in years, lungs ailing – only a high pillow left
Cut-off frontier, sad times – early I shut the gate

I can’t stay long while wolves and tigers sow chaos
Southern lands truly hold unsummoned souls

Notes

“Reflected rays” refers to the last flare of sunlight seen before darkness. “High pillow” can also be translated as “high-minded leisure” or “proud reclusion,” the attitude of one who has withdrawn from the world.

晴二首

其一

久雨巫山暗
新晴錦繡文

碧知湖外草
紅見海東雲

竟日鶯相和
摩霄鶴數群

野花乾更落
風處急紛紛

15.58 [766]

Clear Skies

No. 1

In long showers, Wu mountains dark
Newly cleared, brocade and embroidery patterns

Green I know is grass beyond the lake
Red I see clouds east of the sea

All day orioles meld their song
Touching the void, several flocks of cranes

Wild flowers, drying, fall still more
Tumbling one after another in wind’s place

Notes

The seventh line is Stephen Owen’s wonderful translation.

其二

啼烏爭引子
鳴鶴不歸林

下食遭泥去
高飛恨久陰

雨聲衝塞盡
日氣射江深

迴首周南客
驅馳魏闕心

No. 2

Cawing crows fight to lead their young
Singing cranes don’t return to the forest

Lowering for food, find mud gone
Flying high, hate the constant darkness

Rain’s sound charging the passes cease
Sun’s aura shoots into the river deep

Turning his head, a wanderer in Zhou South
Hurries on, with thoughts for the palaces of Wei

白帝

白帝城中雲出門
白帝城下雨翻盆

高江急峽雷霆鬥
古木蒼藤日月昏

戎馬不如歸馬逸
千家今有百家存

哀哀寡婦誅求盡
慟哭秋原何處村

15.66 [766]

White Emperor

In White Emperor Citadel, clouds exit the gates
Below White Emperor Citadel, rain overturns buckets

High river, rushing gorge – thunder and lightning clash
Old woods, green vines – days and months grow dim

War horses aren’t like homecoming horses unconstrained
Of a thousand families, today a hundred families remain

Oh woe! bereaved women burdened to the end
Howls on the autumn plain, from a village where

Notes

White Emperor – i.e. Baidi (Citadel), referred to elsewhere. At this spot, in 25 CE, the warlord Gongsun Shu 公孫述 proclaimed himself the Emperor of Shu or Chengjia, styled “White Emperor.” He ruled for some twelve years, before the Han reconsolidated their empire. The White Emperor was also one of the Five Celestial Emperors, whose influence reigns over autumn.

中宵

西閣百尋餘
中宵步綺疏

飛星過水白
落月動沙虛

擇木知幽鳥
潛波想巨魚

親朋滿天地
兵甲少來書

17.4 [766]

Midnight

West Tower over a hundred yards
At midnight I walk the latticework

A falling star crosses waters white
Late moonlight shifts on sands empty

Choosing a tree, know sheltered birds
Diving under waves, imagine leviathans

Friends and kin scattered throughout the world
Past fighting armies, few letters have come

不寐

瞿塘夜水黑
城內改更籌

翳翳月沉霧
煇煇星近樓

氣衰甘少寐
心弱恨和愁

多壘滿山谷
桃源無處求

17.5 [766]

Sleepless

Qutang’s night waters black
Inside the city the watch count changes

Faint, the moon sinks in mist
Bright, stars near the tower

In ill health, I can little sleep
For a failing mind, ire and sorrow

Garrisons cover hills and valleys
Peach Blossom Spring is nowhere found

Notes

Peach Blossom Spring – a place of perfect contentment and joy cut off from the outside world, as described in a fable by Tao Qian 陶潛.

夜

露下天高秋水清
空山獨夜旅魂驚

疏燈自照孤帆宿
新月猶懸雙杵鳴

南菊再逢人臥病
北書不至雁無情

步簷倚杖看牛斗
銀漢遙應接鳳城

17.9 [766]

Night (I)

Dew falls, skies high, autumn waters clear
Empty hills, in singular night, wandering souls astound

A dim lamp shines by itself – lonely sailboat moored
The new moon still lingers – paired mallets ring out

Southern mums finding again, man felled by sickness
Northern letters don’t come, geese are without feelings

Walking the veranda with a cane, I see Oxherd, Dipper
The Milky Way, far perhaps as Phoenix City

Notes

Geese are without feelings – a variation on the geese as messengers or letter carriers motif. Phoenix City – Chang’an, the Tang capital.

草閣

草閣臨無地
柴扉永不關

魚龍迴夜水
星月動秋山

久露晴初濕
高雲薄未還

汎舟慚小婦
飄泊損紅顏

17.10 [766]

Thatch House

Our thatch house overlooks no land
The brushwood gate never shuts

Fish and dragons turn in night waters
Stars and moon stir above autumn peaks

Old dew, cold, shines newly wet
High clouds, sheer, do not return

Plying boats are bashful young wives
River life takes from their warm beauty

Notes

“Warm beauty” is David Hinton’s inspired translation of 紅顏 or “rosy complexion.”

宿江邊閣

暝色延山徑
高齋次水門

薄雲巖際宿
孤月浪中翻

鸛鶴追飛靜
豺狼得食喧

不眠憂戰伐
無力正乾坤

17.11 [766]

Overnight in the Riverside Tower

Twilight lengthens mountain paths
My high study is by the river gate

Sheer clouds lodge at cliffs’ edge
The lone moon tumbles among waves

Egrets search flying in silence
Wolves clamor running into food

Awake, I worry about the fighting
Powerless to set the world to rights

第五弟豐獨在江左，近三四載寂無消息，覓使寄此二首（其二）

聞汝依山寺
杭州定越州

風塵淹別日
江漢失清秋

影著啼猿樹
魂飄結蜃樓

明年下春水
東盡白雲求

17.20 [766]

To My Fifth Brother Feng

I hear you’re sheltering in a mountain temple
In Hangzhou, or is it Yuezhou

War’s dust obscures our days apart
Jianghan loses another clear autumn

Before me are wailing gibbons’ trees
My soul floats to shells’ towers in the sea

Next year I’ll go down with the spring floods
To the eastern shore, searching white clouds

Notes

Shells’ towers – sea mirages, imagined to be formed from the breaths of mollusks. The title reads in full: “My Fifth Brother Feng Is Alone in Jiangzuo; for Three or Four Years I Haven’t Heard from Him and Look for a Messenger to Send Him These Two Poems.” This is the second of the pair.

秋興八首

其一

玉露凋傷楓樹林
巫山巫峽氣蕭森

江間波浪兼天湧
塞上風雲接地陰

叢菊兩開他日淚
孤舟一繫故園心

寒衣處處催刀尺
白帝城高急暮砧

17.26 [766]

Autumn Moods

No. 1

Jade dew withers and wounds maple tree forests
On Wu Mountain, in Wu Canyon, air desolate

Mid-river, surging waves rise to meet the sky
Over the pass, swift clouds join earth in darkness

Clustered mums have bloomed twice, tears for other days
Lone boat, once and for all tied up, reminds me of home

For winter clothes, everywhere blades and measures rush
Baidi Citadel high, hurry evening mallet beats

Notes

“Autumn Moods” is the culmination of Du Fu’s art of the poetic sequence and often considered his greatest work. Beginning in Kuizhou, a southern frontier (nos. 1-3), the poems increasingly look back to Chang’an, the Tang capital from which he had been exiled, to recent and remote history of imperial grandeur (nos. 4-8). Water imagery dominates the sequence and the prevailing mood is that of an outpouring of grief.

Mallet beats – Mallets or clubs were used to pound fabric to make winter clothes. The sound of washing or fulling mallets, returned to again and again by Du Fu, was iconic for autumn.

其二

夔府孤城落日斜
每依北斗望京華

聽猿實下三聲淚
奉使虛隨八月槎

畫省香爐違伏枕
山樓粉堞隱悲笳

請看石上藤蘿月
已映洲前蘆荻花

No. 2

On Kui Prefecture’s lone ramparts, late sunlight slants
Then always I rely on North Dipper, gazing toward the capital

Truly, upon hearing gibbons, the third cry brings tears
To carry out a mission, vainly I ply September’s raft

Muralled hall, incense burner, eludes my sick pillow
Mountain tower, whitewashed battlements, hides a mournful flute

Look now, moon in wisteria on the rocks
Already lighting reed blossoms before the island

Notes

September’s raft – A fisherman was said to have boarded a raft that floated by in September, sailing down the Yangtze, out to sea and ending up in the Milky Way, where his raft appeared to those on earth as a wandering star.

其三

千家山郭靜朝暉
日日江樓坐翠微

信宿漁人還汎汎
清秋燕子故飛飛

匡衡抗疏功名薄
劉向傳經心事違

同學少年多不賤
五陵衣馬自輕肥

No. 3

The thousand homes of a mountain city, calm in morning sunlight
Day after day, on the river tower, I sit in a green haze

Staying two nights, fishermen return, bobbing on the waters
In clear autumn, swallows heedlessly fly to and fro

Kuang Heng advanced memorials – deed and fame slight
Liu Xiang transmitted classics – heart’s goal amiss

My classmates of younger days – most aren’t lowly now
Robes and mounts in Wuling, effortlessly light and sleek

Notes

Heedlessly – instead of starting their migration south, that is. Kuang Heng and Liu Xiang (1st cen. BCE) were famous Han officials; the poet contrasts his own fate with theirs in the respective lines. Wuling was a fashionable neighborhood of Chang’an.

其四

聞道長安似弈棋
百年世事不勝悲

王侯第宅皆新主
文武衣冠異昔時

直北關山金鼓震
征西車馬羽書馳

魚龍寂寞秋江冷
故國平居有所思

No. 4

I’ve heard it said Chang’an resembles weiqi
A hundred years of unbearably painful human affairs

Prince and marquis palaces boast new masters
Civil and military regalia have changed from former days

Directly north, bronze drums thunder in mountain passes
Attacking west, war carts race with feathered dispatches

Fish and dragons keep silent in cold autumn waters
The old country, that peaceful life, remains in my thoughts

Notes

Weiqi – Or Go, the game of encirclement played on a square grid.

其五

蓬萊宮闕對南山
承露金莖霄漢間

西望瑤池降王母
東來紫氣滿函關

雲移雉尾開宮扇
日繞龍鱗識聖顏

一臥滄江驚歲晚
幾回青瑣點朝班

No. 5

Penglai palace complex faces South Mountain
Catching dew, bronze pillar amid the Milky Way

To the west, at Jasper Lake, Queen Mother descends
Arriving from the east, purple mist fills Hangu Pass

Pheasant tails moving clouds – palace fans open
Sunlight circling dragon scales – see the Holy Countenance

I dwell on this dark river, dreading that the year grows late
How many times, by blue gates, counted I for morning court

Notes

The first two couplets present, in hugely compacted space, a whole succession of Daoist images, leading to the emperor’s dazzling appearance in the third couplet. Penglai Palace was named after the Daoist island of immortals; South Mountain sheltered Daoist hermits; Emperor Wu of the Han erected a bronze pillar to collect dew, an essential ingredient of elixirs of immortality; Queen Mother of the West (standing in for Yang Guifei) lived on Jasper Lake, where she dispensed immortality and eternal bliss; and Laozi was said to have been preceded by a purple mist when he appeared at Hangu Pass, where he left his teachings.

The Tang house traced its royal lineage to no less than Laozi, founder of Daoism. The poem reenacts a double dazzlement – that of Xuanzong by Daoist visions, to the neglect of an emperor’s responsibilities, and that of the poet by the magnificence of the court itself. The latter masks Du Fu’s bitter criticism and regret.

其六

瞿唐峽口曲江頭
萬里風煙接素秋

花萼夾城通御氣
芙蓉小苑入邊愁

珠簾繡柱圍黃鵠
錦纜牙檣起白鷗

回首可憐歌舞地
秦中自古帝王州

No. 6

From Qutang Gorge’s mouth to Meandering River’s head
Countless miles of windblown mists link pale autumn

Calyx Hall’s secure corridor channeled royal aura
Into small Lotus Park entered frontier sorrows

Pearl curtains, painted columns, surrounded yellow swans
Brocade cables, ivoried masts, sent up white gulls

I turn my head, sad for that place of song and dance
Qin has been, since ancient days, the province of kings

Notes

Into small Lotus Park... – i.e. news of unrest in the border regions reached the Emperor's private retreat.

其七

昆明池水漢時功
武帝旌旗在眼中

織女機絲虛夜月
石鯨鱗甲動秋風

波漂菰米沈雲黑
露冷蓮房墜粉紅

關塞極天唯鳥道
江湖滿地一漁翁

No. 7

Lake Kunming’s waters, a Han-era achievement
Emperor Wu’s banners remain before our eyes

Weaver Girl’s loom and thread idle beneath night’s moon
Stone Whale’s scaly armor stirs in autumn wind

Waves float wild-rice grains – clouds lowering black
Dew chills lotus pods – strewn powder red

From frontier to horizon, only birds’ passages
On rivers and lakes, covering this land, one old fisherman

Notes

Lake Kunming was a reservoir built by the Han for naval exercises. Weaver Girl and Stone Whale were statues on the lake. Weaver Girl may have gone off to see Cowherd, her mythical companion, on the other side of the lake. Stone Whale’s movement harbingers a storm, boding ill for their meeting. The middle couplets here are superb examples of the visual intensity, close texture, and dense balancing of disparate elements that makes this such a rich and remarkable sequence.

其八

昆吾御宿自逶迤
紫閣峰陰入渼陂

香稻啄餘鸚鵡粒
碧梧棲老鳳皇枝

佳人捨翠春相問
仙侶同舟晚更移

綵筆昔遊干氣象
白頭吟望苦低垂

No. 8

To Kunwu Park, Yusu River meandered round
Zige Peak’s shadow entered into Lake Meipi

Fragrant rice, pecking strewed, were parrots’ grains
Green wu, roosting to old age – phoenixes’ branch

Beauties gathered kingfisher feathers, making visits in spring
Immortal companions shared a boat, gliding in the dusk

My many-colored brush once vied with the elements
White-haired, I chant and gaze, in anguish sunk

Notes

Kunwu Park, Yusu River, Zige Peak, Lake Meipi – all scenic attractions in the environs of Chang’an. The second line recalls the virtuosic showpiece “A Song of Lake Meipi” 渼陂行 that Du Fu had written years earlier, when he was still in the capital.

Fragrant rice... phoenixes’ branch – a famously gnarly couplet. The sense is clear enough, that times were prosperous (with fragrant rice enough for parrots) and the emperor’s rule was just (phoenixes were said to descend only during an enlightened reign), but the contorted, almost unsalvageable syntax colors this vision in a strange way.

Many-colored brush – Late in his life the poet Jiang Yan 江淹 (5th cen.), was said to have met the great scholar Guo Pu 郭璞 (3rd cen.) in a dream. Guo asked Jiang to return the many-colored brush that he had lent him years ago. Thereafter, Jiang’s talent abandoned him and his brush fell silent. It’s true that Du Fu’s political career had failed, but the most extraordinary period of his creativity, the Kuizhou years, had only just begun. His invoking Jiang Yan, best known for writing skillful imitations of past poets, may be modest or intensely ironic.

詠懷古跡五首（其一、二、三）

其一

支離東北風塵際
漂泊西南天地間

三峽樓臺淹日月
五溪衣服共雲山

羯胡事主終無賴
詞客哀時且未還

庾信平生最蕭瑟
暮年詩賦動江關

17.34 [766]

Singing of Feelings on Historical Traces

No. 1

Stranded in the Northeast, skirting war’s dust
Adrift in the Southwest, between heaven and earth

Three Gorges’ towers, terraces, prolong days and months
Five Streams’ clothings, costumes, meld clouds and mountains

The barbarian, serving his lord, in the end was unreliable
A man of verse, mourning the times, still hasn’t returned

Yu Xin, his whole life, was most unhappy
In later years, his rhapsodies stirred the river’s passes

Notes

Five Streams – “Five Streams” indicates the river system of the Southwest, home to various non-Han peoples and tribes. The “barbarian” is either Hou Jing, who rebelled again the Liang, or An Lushan, who rebelled against the Tang.

Yu Xin 庾信 was a poet of the Liang Dynasty, sent to negotiate with Western Wei in the North, when the latter attacked Jiangling, Liang’s capital. Liang fell in 557, and Yu was held captive in Chang’an for the rest of his life. His “Rhapsody Lament for the South” 哀江南賦 resonated deeply with the poet. Here he is Du Fu’s alter ego – every line applies equally to both poets; only their homes and places of exile are swapped.

其二

搖落深知宋玉悲
風流儒雅亦吾師

悵望千秋一灑淚
蕭條異代不同時

江山故宅空文藻
雲雨荒臺豈夢思

最是楚宮俱泯滅
舟人指點到今疑

No. 2

Flutter and fall – I know well Song Yu’s grief
Gallant and refined – to me also a teacher

Sad perspective of a thousand autumns – a sprinkling of tears
Desolation in different generations, at different times

His old abode by river and mountains – vain poetry
Deserted terrace in clouds and rain – is it only a dream

Worst off are Chu palaces, all destroyed
Fishermen point out the spot, doubtful to this day

Notes

“Flutter and fall” is a phrase from the magnificent opening of the “Nine Arguments” 九辯, a long poem attributed to Song Yu, a poet of the Chu court in the late 3rd cen. BCE. In the preface to another poem attributed to Song Yu, the poet describes how, in a dream, the King of Chu held tryst with the Goddess of Wu Mountain, who told him that she was the dawn clouds and the evening rain by the Terrace of Light. See David Hawkes’ The Songs of the South (Penguin Classics, 1985) for an account of Song Yu and his poetry.

其三

群山萬壑赴荊門
生長明妃尚有村

一去紫臺連朔漠
獨留青冢向黃昏

畫圖省識春風面
環珮空歸月下魂

千載琵琶作胡語
分明怨恨曲中論

No. 3

Mountain ranges, countless valleys, rush to Jingmen
To the village where Mingfei was born and grew up

From Purple Terrace, she went straight into the desert
Only a green grave remains in the falling dusk

A painting recalled her face in the spring wind
The tinkling of jewels seemed her soul returning in moonlight

For a thousand years, the pipa invents foreign words
Laying out the wronged one’s grief – in song its argument

Notes

Mingfei (Brilliant Consort) or Wang Zhaojun was reputedly a concubine in the harem of Emperor Yuan of the Western Han (1st cen. BCE). Being pure of heart and extremely beautiful, Zhaojun refused to bribe the palace portraitist to paint a flattering picture. Naturally, he misrepresented her likeness, and the emperor never gave her a thought – until he saw her being sent, upon his own orders, to be married to a Xiongnu chief, in a peace-making move. He fell immediately and deeply in love, but the matter could not be rescinded and she went away forever. A number of popular, melancholy songs were attributed to her. She is often depicted on horseback playing the pipa, originally from Central Asia.

洞房

洞房環珮冷
玉殿起秋風

秦地應新月
龍池滿舊宮

繫舟今夜遠
清漏往時同

萬里黃山北
園陵白露中

17.52 [766]

Bridal Chamber

Bridal chamber – jewels ice-cold
Through jade halls, fall wind rises

Qin land should be seeing a new moon
Dragon Lake covers the old palace

Boats moored there tonight are distant
The water-clock drips clear, then as now

Countless miles north of yellow mountains
A tomb preserve lies in white dew

Notes

A vision of Xuanzong and Yang Guifei’s palace in the aftermath of An Lushan’s rebellion, the trio long dead by this point – Yang Guifei famously strangled by the emperor’s own guards, who demanded her death.

“Qin land” refers to the area encompassing Chang’an. “Tomb preserve” indicates the Tang royal cemetery. “Yellow Mountain” was the name of a palace of Han Wudi, north of which lay his Luxuriant Tomb (Maoling) complex. David McCraw notes that “in Du Fu’s mind, the palace’s name comes to life as real alps rearing between him and the emperor’s tomb up north” (p.198).

麂

永與清溪別
蒙將玉饌俱

無才逐仙隱
不敢恨庖廚

亂世輕全物
微聲及禍樞

衣冠兼盜賊
饕餮用斯須

17.64 [766]

Musk Deer

Forever parted from clear creeks
Soon you’ll be among fine plates

No talent to follow hermit immortals
Not even daring to resent the cook

A world in chaos despises things whole
Tiniest cries bring on disaster

The robed and capped are robbers and thieves
Ravenous, they’ll gobble you right up

瞿塘兩崖

三峽傳何處
雙崖壯此門

入天猶石色
穿水忽雲根

猱玃須髯古
蛟龍窟宅尊

羲和冬馭近
愁畏日車翻

18.9 [766]

Paired Cliffs of Qutang Gorge

Three Gorges pass down from where
Twin cliffs exalt this gate

Piercing sky still the color of stone
Swirling water splashes cloud roots

Monkeys’ beards grow ancient
Dragons’ caves are sacred

Xihe riding near in winter
Worries the sun’s car might topple

Notes

The Three Gorges were variously identified, hence the poet’s uncertainty in the first line. “Cloud roots” is a kenning for the base of mountains, appropriate for this poem. Xihe is the charioteer of the sun.

Coming upon Qutang Gorge, the speaker seems to question the fearsome reputation of the Three Gorges. He quickly finds confirmation in the landscape, however, and gives himself wholly over to its mythic associations. In the last couplet, Du Fu engages in some myth-making of his own.

瞿唐懷古

西南萬壑注
勍敵兩崖開

地與山根裂
江從月窟來

削成當白帝
空曲隱陽臺

疏鑿功雖美
陶鈞力大哉

18.10 [766]

At Qutang, Meditating on Antiquity

Southwest, countless ravines pour
Fearsome, twin cliffs open out

Earth with hills’ roots fissure
River from the moon’s cave arrives

Carved into being, facing Baidi
Desolate bends hide Yang Terrace

Chiseled works may be lovely
But creation’s power is immense

Notes

The moon’s cave lies far in the west, where the moon sets. “Chiselled works” refers to the labors of Yu the Great in taming the floods (see Yu’s Temple above). The rugged Southwestern frontier brought to Du Fu’s mind China’s mythic early history, as seen in the processes of geologic creation itself – called “the potter’s wheel” in Chinese.

閣夜

歲暮陰陽催短景
天涯霜雪霽寒霄

五更鼓角聲悲壯
三峽星河影動搖

野哭幾家聞戰伐
夷歌是處起漁樵

臥龍躍馬終黃土
人事音書漫寂寥

18.13 [766]

Tower Night

Late in the year, nature’s balance hurries short daylight
At world’s end, snow and frost clear up in the cold void

Fifth watch drum and bugle mourn loud
Above Three Gorges, the Milky Way shimmers adrift

I hear war – several homes weeping in wilderness
Savage songs rising everywhere from woods- and fisher-men

Sleeping Dragon, Lunging Stallion, died yellow dirt
Life and communications spill into wild silence

Notes

Sleeping Dragon, Lunging Stallion – Zhuge Liang and Gongsun Shu, respectively; defiant figures associated with the Kuizhou area.

江梅

梅蕊臘前破
梅花年後多

絕知春意好
最奈客愁何

雪樹元同色
江風亦自波

故園不可見
巫岫鬱嵯峨

18.42 [767]

River Plums

Plum stamens show before La Festival
Plum blossoms after New Year’s proliferate

I know truly spring means well
But suffer most a wanderer’s sorrow

Snowy trees appear early the same
River wind, too, makes waves rise

Our old home I can’t see
Wu peaks overgrown pile up high

Notes

La Festival falls on the 8th day of the 12th month and honors tutelary gods, in advance of celebrations for the New Year.

Snowy trees... / River wind... – The plum trees look the same, and the river wind behaves the same as in the poet’s homeland (in contrast to the strange overgrown peaks that rear up in the last couplet).

暮春

臥病擁塞在峽中
瀟湘洞庭虛映紅

楚天不斷西時雨
巫峽常吹千里風

沙上草閣柳新闇
城邊野池蓮欲紅

暮春鴛鷺立洲渚
挾子翻飛還一叢

18.49 [767]

Late Spring

Illness keeps me on the frontier, inside this gorge
Xiaoxiang and Lake Dongting – shimmers a rosy mirage

In Chu skies, endless rains four seasons
Scouring Wu Gorge, regular thousand-mile winds

On the sand, a thatch cabin by willows newly hidden
Outside town, wild pond, where lotuses start to bloom red

Late spring, mallards and egrets stand on river islets
Taking their young they fly away, still an entire bunch

晨雨

小雨晨光內
初來葉上聞

霧交才灑地
風逆旋隨雲

暫起柴荊色
輕霑鳥獸群

麝香山一半
亭午未全分

18.87 [767]

Dawn Rain

Light rain, contained in dawn’s glow
I hear starting to fall on the trees

With fog combines to wet the ground
Wind-blown, follows clouds

Now the color of thorny shrubs stands out
Lightly sprinkled, birds and beasts flock

Of Musk Deer Mountain, one half shows
By noon, the whole still hasn’t appeared

見螢火

巫山秋夜螢火飛
簾疏巧入坐人衣

忽驚屋裏琴書冷
復亂檐邊星宿稀

卻繞井闌添箇箇
偶經花蕊弄輝輝

滄江白髮愁看汝
來歲如今歸未歸

19.28 [767]

Seeing Fireflies

Fall night in Wu mountains – fireflies are flying
Through open blinds they cleverly enter, alight on my clothes

Suddenly startled – inside the chamber, qin and books cold
Again jumbled – along the eaves, stars and constellations few

Now around the well-curb, they gather one by one
By chance encounter flower-stamens, creating brilliance

Beside the dark river, white-haired, I watch you sadly
Next year, when it’s like tonight, will I have returned or no

Notes

Gui means “to go home” as well as “to return.” In the original, the question, without pronouns, applies to the fireflies as well as to the poet. “When it’s like tonight” sets up this scenario. If the poet goes home, then for him the fireflies would not return; and if the fireflies return, then he would not have gone home. I’ve often wondered how William Empson would’ve applied his method of analyzing verbal ambiguities to Tang poetry, and to Du Fu in particular. A poem of stunning verbal and visual elisions, simply dazzling.

秋清

高秋蘇肺氣
白發自能梳

藥餌憎加減
門庭悶掃除

杖藜還客拜
愛竹遣兒書

十月江平穩
輕舟進所如

19.43 [767]

Fall’s Clarity

In late fall, my asthma improves
White hair I’m able to comb myself

Medicine I hate adding and subtracting
Gate and yard, too lazy to sweep

On my goosefoot cane I bow to guests
Tell my boy to write in praise of bamboo

November’s river is level and calm
A light boat will take me anywhere

秋野五首

其一

秋野日疏蕪
寒江動碧虛

繫舟蠻井絡
卜宅楚村墟

棗熟從人打
葵荒欲自鋤

盤飧老夫食
分減及溪魚

20.4 [767]

Autumn Wilds

No. 1

Autumn wilds daily barren and scraggly
The cold river ripples blue skies

I tie my boat to the Mon’s Well Rope
And site my home in Chu rural wilds

Ripened dates let others get at
Seedy mallow I will hoe out myself

This meal of an old man’s foods
I will take some to the fish in the creek

其二

易識浮生理
難教一物違

水深魚極樂
林茂鳥知歸

衰老甘貧病
榮華有是非

秋風吹几杖
不厭北山薇

No. 2

It’s easy to see the ways of creatures
Hard to tell one thing to change its course

In deep waters fish are happiest
Birds know to return to lush forests

Old, I accept poverty and sickness
Youth and glory are full of strife

Autumn wind blows round my seat and cane
And I never tire of North Mountain’s ferns

Notes

“North Mountain’s ferns” alludes to the story of Bo Yi and Shu Qi, brothers during the collapse of the Shang Dynasty (11th cen. BCE). After the Shang’s defeat, they retreated into the mountains in the north, where they starved to death, refusing to eat the grains that now belonged to the new Zhou Dynasty. A wry comment on being a loyal subject.

其三

禮樂攻吾短
山林引興長

掉頭紗帽側
曝背竹書光

風落收松子
天寒割蜜房

稀疏小紅翠
駐屐近微香

No. 3

Rites and music correct one’s faults
Hills and woods bring lasting delight

I nod off – gauze cap tilts
I sun my back – bamboo book shines

Windfallen I gather pine cones
In cold weather break into honeycombs

Frail and scarce, small reds and blues
My clogs stop near their mild fragrance

Notes

The first two lines rehearse common Confucian and Daoist tenets. Gauze caps were worn by officials (here grown lax), and “bamboo book” indicates an ancient tome or classic (which he is no longer reading). The third couplet depicts the poet as a hungry hermit, and the last, a perfect aesthete.

其四

遠岸秋沙白
連山晚照紅

潛鱗輸駭浪
歸翼會高風

砧響家家發
樵聲箇箇衕

飛霜任青女
賜被隔南宮

No. 4

On distant shores, autumn sands white
Through linked mountains, evening shines red

Diving scales escape frightful waves
Homing wings encounter high winds

Mallets’ echo – ringing from each house
Axes’ sound – in rhythm, every stroke

Hoarfrost welcomes Qingnu
Gifting me a quilt, far from South Palace

Notes

Qingnu or “Dark Maiden” was the goddess of frost and snow. South Palace was a constellation, as well as a name for the Department of State Affairs, to which Du Fu aspired. During Han times, white quilts were given at night to officials working in this department in the capital.

其五

身許麒麟畫
年衰鴛鷺群

大江秋易盛
空峽夜多聞

徑隱千重石
帆留一片雲

兒童解蠻語
不必作參軍

No. 5

I lived for a Unicorn Hall portrait
In years declining flock with mallards and egrets

The Great River easily swells in autumn
Empty gorges at night are full of sounds

Paths hide among a thousand strong rocks
A sail lingers – single sheer cloud

My boy is fluent in Mon speech
Though not hoping to join the army

Notes

Unicorn Hall was where the portraits of great heroes hung. Mallards and egrets – common term for court officials; here literally mallards and egrets, an ironic reversal.

Join the army – literally, “become an adjutant (in the army)” When questioned, the fourth cen. adjutant He Long excused himself for using a tribal word in a poem on account of having lived for a long time among tribal peoples. The joke is that Du Fu’s son, though fluent in tribal speech, cannot aspire to become even something as lowly as an adjutant in the army.

This famous sequence post-dates “Autumn Moods” by a year and follows completely different methods, under a far more tranquil state of mind. The shorter five-character line curbs emotion and, in the place of extreme anguish, there’s much effortless humor. Even the jokey final couplet, which can seem like such a letdown, relates to this overall paring down of rhetoric and feelings. That sail that would take the poet back to Chang’an – an ever-present wish in the late poetry – now hovers on the horizon, neither nearing nor receding, but suspended in its own remote, lucent equipoise. A masterful sequence!

返照

返照開巫峽
寒空半有無

已低魚復暗
不盡白鹽孤

荻岸如秋水
松門似畫圖

牛羊識童僕
既夕應傳呼

20.12 [767]

Reflected Rays (II)

Reflected rays open up Wu Gorge
Cold sky half there and half gone

Already sunk, Yufu goes dark
Not yet finished, Baiyan stands forlorn

Reed banks like autumn waters
Pine Gate resembling a picture

Cows, goats, know the servant boy
Past evening respond to calls

Notes

Yufu – or Fish Return (i.e. where fish turn back on the river), a former name of Kuizhou. Baiyan – or White Salt, the southern and higher of two mountains forming the Kui Gate to Qutang Gorge. Pine Gate – another gorge.

向夕

畎畝孤城外
江村亂水中

深山催短景
喬木易高風

鶴下雲汀近
鷄棲草屋同

琴書散明燭
長夜始堪終

20.13 [767]

Toward Evening

Drained fields outside a lonely city
River village among rebellious waters

Deep mountains hurry short daylight
Towering trees transmute high winds

Cranes fly down – cloudy island near
Chickens roost – a thatch roof we share

Qin and books scatter the bright lamp
Long nights only so are finished

十六夜玩月

舊挹金波爽
皆傳玉露秋

關山隨地闊
河漢近人流

谷口樵歸唱
孤城笛起愁

巴童渾不寢
半夜有行舟

20.35 [767]

Night of the Sixteenth, Enjoying Moonlight

Again I scoop up silvery waves bright
How well they speak of jade dew autumn

Frontier mountains line the earth vast
The Milky Way near to men flow

At the glen’s mouth, woodsmen returning sing out
In the lonely city, a flute rises in lament

Ba youths still aren’t asleep
Boats are gliding out there at midnight

十七夜對月

秋月仍圓夜
江村獨老身

捲簾還照客
倚杖更隨人

光射潛虯動
明翻宿鳥頻

茅齋依橘柚
清切露華新

20.36 [767]

Moon on the Night of the Seventeenth

Fall moon staying full at night
In this river hamlet I’m old and alone

Raising blinds – again it shines on wanderers
Leaning on a cane – still it follows men

Gleaming rays stir dragons in the deeps
Brightness rouses sleeping birds now and again

Thatch study, bordering orange grove
Sparkle with dew’s splendid new light

Notes

Raising blinds / Leaning on a cane – These “dangling” modifiers attach to the object nouns at the end of the line. The alternative is to treat each half of the lines as a complete sentence, with different implied subjects. Such ambiguity of subjects is a feature of Tang poetry and provides interest and tension that generally are lost in translation.

曉望

白帝更聲盡
陽臺曙色分

高峰寒上日
疊嶺宿霾雲

地坼江帆隱
天清木葉聞

荊扉對麋鹿
應共爾為群

20.37 [767]

Morning View

Baidi’s watch sounds fade
Yangtai’s dawn colors divide

Above high peaks, cold the sun rises
In the folds of ridges, dwell mists and clouds

Earth splits, hiding the river’s sails
Skies clear with the sound of leaves

My brushwood gate faces deer
I ought to join you, flock with the herd

暝

日下四山陰
山庭嵐氣侵

牛羊歸徑險
鳥雀聚枝深

正枕當星劍
收書動玉琴

半扉開燭影
欲掩見清砧

20.39 [767]

Twilight

Sun goes down – surrounding mountains darken
Hillside yard – cold air invades

Oxen and goats return on paths dangerous
Birds and sparrows gather in branches deep

I straighten my pillow, facing stars’ sword
Or read, then strike the jeweled qin

In the half-open door, torchlight appears
Going to close it, I hear the ringing of mallets

Notes

Stars’ sword – stars adorned very fine swords. Alternatively, the Sword, a northern constellation, corresponding to our Northern Cross.

夜

絕岸風威動
寒房燭影微

嶺猿霜外宿
江鳥夜深飛

獨坐親雄劍
哀歌歎短衣

煙塵繞閶闔
白首壯心違

20.41 [767]

Night (II)

Over sheer banks, wind’s might moves
In the cold room, candle light dims

Mountain gibbons settle beyond frost
River birds fly deep into the night

I sit alone, draw near my heroic sword
Sing in lament and sigh for my short robe

Smoke and dust circle Heaven’s Gate
A white head betrays my stalwart heart

Notes

I have borrowed from David McCraw’s translation, who notes that the poem’s elements “evoke third-century verse” and that the “archaic tone suits” this high-minded lament (p.117). Heaven’s Gate is metonymic for the Emperor’s palace or seat of government.

憑孟倉曹將書覓土婁舊莊

平居喪亂後
不到洛陽岑

為歷雲山問
無辭荊棘深

北風黃葉下
南浦白頭吟

十載江湖客
茫茫遲暮心

20.45 [767]

Depending on Meng of the Granaries to Take a Letter and Seek Out My Old Estate at Tulou

Living in peace, after death and chaos
I haven’t reached Luoyang’s peaks

Through every cloud and mountain seek
Don’t shun thorns and brambles thick

North wind – yellow leaves down
South cove – white-haired I chant on

Ten years a guest of rivers and lakes
Lost in vastness, this late-tarrying mind

登高

風急天高猿嘯哀
渚清沙白鳥飛迴

無邊落木蕭蕭下
不盡長江滾滾來

萬里悲秋常作客
百年多病獨登臺

艱難苦恨繁霜鬢
潦倒新停濁酒杯

20.53 [767]

Climbing High

Winds gusting in high atmosphere, gibbons’ mournful wails
Clear shallows, birds circling over white sands

Boundless, tree leaves fall, rustling down
Endless, the great river arrives, advancing coils

Of sad autumn’s countless miles, often I’m guest
After a lifetime of illnesses, alone I climb to his height

Rancor and suffering showing rich in gray temples
Reeling, having recently given up cloudy wine

耳聾

生年鶡冠子
歎世鹿皮翁

眼復幾時暗
耳從前月聾

猿鳴秋淚缺
雀噪晚愁空

黃落驚山樹
呼兒問朔風

20.72 [767]

Deaf

Old in years as He Guanzi
Lamenting the world like Lu Piweng

My eyes, when will they too go dim
My ear has been deaf since last month

Gibbons cry – autumn tears amiss
Sparrows chatter – late worries in vain

Yellows fall frightfully from mountain trees
I shout to my boy, asking about the north wind

Notes

He Guanzi – or Pheasant Cap Master, a Daoist hermit of the 3rd cen. BCE, author of the eponymous philosophical treatise. Lu Piweng – or Deerskin Old-Man, a hermit of Daoist legend. The allusions are self-explanatory; He Guanzi was very old and Lu Piweng lamented the world! It was the poet’s left ear that went deaf, according to William Hung.

夜二首

其一

白夜月休弦
燈花半委眠

號山無定鹿
落樹有驚蟬

暫憶江東鱠
兼懷雪下船

蠻歌犯星起
空覺在天邊

20.81 [767]

Night

No. 1

White night – the moon rests its bow
Lamp sparks – half gone to sleep

In roaring mountains, deer are restless
Among falling leaves, cicadas take fright

Now I remember bream from the river east
And yearn so for a boat in the snow

Tribal songs breaching the stars rise
Emptily awake, I’m at heaven’s frontier

Notes

“Bream from the river east” refers to the story of Zhang Han of the Western Jin (3rd cen.), who did not care for courtly life and, declaring his longing for the cress and bream soup of his native land, gave up office to go home. “Boat in the snow” refers to a story about Wang Huizhi of the Eastern Jin (4th cen.), who once on a whim sailed all night in the snow to see a friend, only to turn back at the friend’s gate at dawn, because the mood had abandoned him. Both stories are about listening to one’s inner being. The last line is David McCraw’s translation.

其二

城郭悲笳暮
村墟過翼稀

甲兵年數久
賦斂夜深歸

暗樹依巖落
明河繞塞微

斗斜人更望
月細鵲休飛

No. 2

City ramparts – mournful flute in the sunset
Village cemetery – passing birds few

Armored troops – it’s been many years
Tax collectors – return late at night

Leaves in the dark down cliffs fall
The Milky Way surrounds the frontier dim

Dipper slants – still I gaze
The moon wanes – magpies rest their flight

雨四首

其一

微雨不滑道
斷雲疏復行

紫崖奔處黑
白鳥去邊明

秋日新霑影
寒江舊落聲

柴扉臨野碓
半濕搗香粳

20.88 [767]

Rain

No. 1

Fine rains do not slick the roads
Broken clouds sparsely resume their way

Purple cliffs, where they hurry, go dark
White birds, leaving the edge, flare bright

In autumn sun, new stained shadows
By the cold river, old falling sounds

My brushwood gate overlooks a country mill
Pounding half wet, fragrant rice

其二

江雨舊無時
天晴忽散絲

暮秋霑物冷
今日過雲遲

上馬迥休出
看鷗坐不辭

高軒當灩澦
潤色靜書帷

No. 2

River rains, never at set hours
A clear sky suddenly releases silken strands

Late autumn, sprinkled things are cold
Today the clouds pass by slowly

I mount my horse, turn round before I’d left
Watching gulls, I sit and do not go

My high window faces Yanyu Rock
Soaked sights calm my study’s screens

Notes

Yanyu Stone – a fearsome rock standing in the middle of the Kui Gate to Qutang Gorge, a peril to travelers during the autumn floods.

其三

物色歲將晏
天隅人未歸

朔風鳴淅淅
寒雨下霏霏

多病久加飯
衰容新授衣

時危覺凋喪
故舊短書稀

No. 3

By the look of things, the year is late
From this stretch of sky, one has not returned

North wind calls with passing whispers
Cold rain falls in muddled showers

Always ailing, long I’ve forced down food
My frail form, recently given new clothes

In dangerous times, I mind desolate death
From old friends, short letters are few

其四

楚雨石苔滋
京華消息遲

山寒青兕叫
江晚白鷗饑

神女花鈿落
蛟人織杼悲

繁憂不自整
終日灑如絲

No. 4

In Chu rains, stone moss thrives
From the capital, any news is late

Among hills cold, a black beast bellows
On the river at dusk, white gulls hunger

The goddess’s flower hairpins drop
Mermaids’ weaving shuttles mourn

Rich worries not sorting themselves out
All day sprinkle like silken strands

Notes

A black beast bellows – The Chu king’s hunt of a black beast is remembered at the end of “Summons of the Soul,” a long poem from the great Songs of Chu 楚辭 anthology of the 3rd cen. BCE, whose melancholy themes surface often in Du Fu’s late poetry.

The goddess’s flower hairpins... – It rains so often that the goddess of rain, rushing to and fro, loses her flower hairpins (i.e. blossoms fall in the wild); and mermaids, imagined to weave silk underwater, have to give up their weaving. A beautifully rococo couplet. The last couplet effects a synthesis of rain and feelings that truly cannot be disentangled.

夜歸

夜來歸來衝虎過
山黑家中已眠臥

傍見北斗向江低
仰看明星當空大

庭前把燭嗔兩炬
峽口驚猿聞一個

白頭老罷舞復歌
杖藜不睡誰能那

21.17 [768]

Night Return

In the night returning, I dodge a tiger on the prowl
Mountains are black, the family inside has gone to sleep

There, I see North Dipper, lowering toward the river
Looking up, I watch bright stars, shining big in the sky

To the yard lights are brought – I’m vexed to see two torches
At the gorge’s mouth a gibbon starts – echoes one cry

A white-haired old man dances and then sings out
On his goosefoot cane, refusing to sleep – who can do anything about it

江邊星月二首

其一

驟雨清秋夜
金波耿玉繩

天河元自白
江浦向來澄

映物連珠斷
緣空一鏡升

餘光隱更漏
況乃露華凝

21.62 [768]

By the Yangtze, Stars and Moon

No. 1

After sudden rain, clear fall night
Silvery waves, radiant Jade Rope

Heaven’s River – originally white
Yangtze’s cove – recently clarified

Sparkling on things, strung pearls snap
Through the sky, one mirror soars

Surplus light obscures the clepsydra’s drops
Even more, dew’s splendor condenses

Notes

Jade Rope – a constellation. Strung pearls – the five asterisms or known planets. The 5th line is David McCraw’s translation.

其二

江月辭風纜
江星別霧船

雞鳴還曙色
鷺浴自清川

歷歷竟誰種
悠悠何處圓

客愁殊未已
他夕始相鮮

No. 2

River moon quits windblown cables
River stars take leave of fog-bound boats

A rooster crows dawn’s returning light
Egrets bathe in the self-same clear stream

Thickly strewn, who will plant them
Drifting off, where to be full again

A wanderer’s sorrow, far from done
Some other evening starts fresh and new

舟月對驛近寺

更深不假燭
月朗自明船

金刹青楓外
朱樓白水邊

城烏啼眇眇
野鷺宿娟娟

皓首江湖客
鉤簾獨未眠

21.64 [768]

Moonlit Boat Opposite a Temple Near the Post-Station

Night late, no need for a lantern
Moonlight clear, the boat is bright

Golden temple beyond green maples
Vermilion tower beside white waters

City crows caw, faint in the distance
Wild egrets roost, full of grace

White-haired, a guest of rivers and lakes
Raises blinds, alone, sleepless

暮歸

霜黃碧梧白鶴棲
城上擊柝復烏啼

客子入門月皎皎
誰家擣練風淒淒

南渡桂水闕舟楫
北歸秦川多鼓鞞

年過半百不稱意
明日看雲還杖藜

22.1 [768]

Evening Return

Frost yellows green wu – where white cranes perch
Struck watch-rattle on the rampart – again crows make cry

A wanderer enters his gate, brilliant with moonlight
From someone’s house, the pounding of silk in chilly wind

Crossing south, to Que waters, there are no boats
The way back north, through Qin river, resounds war drums

More than fifty years old – nothing suits my ideas
Tomorrow, to view clouds, again I’ll take my goosefoot cane

山館

南國晝多霧
北風天正寒

路危行木杪
身遠宿雲端

山鬼吹燈滅
廚人語夜闌

雞鳴問前館
世亂敢求安

22.7 [768]

Mountain Inn

In the South, daytime is full of fog
With north wind, it’s cold indeed

The steep road goes through treetops
Remote bodies shelter at clouds’ edge

Mountain goblins blow lamps extinguished
Kitchen voices talk night growing late

A rooster crowing before the inn asks
The world is in chaos, how can you look for peace

公安送韋二少府匡贊

逍遙公後世多賢
送爾維舟惜此筵

念我能書數字至

將詩不必萬人傳

時危兵甲黃塵裏
日短江湖白髮前

古往今來皆涕淚
斷腸分手各風煙

22.12

In Gongan Seeing off Wei Two Sheriff Kuangzan

The Carefree Duke’s legacy are today’s many worthies
Seeing you off, I tie up my boat, cherishing the feast

If you think of me and can write, send a few words
Taking my poems, you needn’t tell countless persons

The times are dangerous – fighters in yellow dust
And days are short – rivers and lakes before my white head

The past goes, the present comes – only tears
We say goodbye, heartbroken, each of windblown mist

Notes

Wei Two Sheriff Kuangzan – that is, Sheriff Kuangzan, the second of his generation in the Wei clan. The Carefree Duke was a title bestowed on Wei Xiong of the Northern Zhou (6th cen.), who refused office in order to live out a life of leisure.

冬深

花葉隨天意
江溪共石根

早霞隨類影
寒水各依痕

易下楊朱淚
難招楚客魂

風濤暮不穩
捨棹宿誰門

22.21 [768]

Deep Winter

Flower or leaf follows heaven’s wish
River and inlet share roots of stone

Early glow shadows each shape
The cold water touches on all its trace

Easily shed, Yang Zhu’s tears
Difficult to summon, Chu’s wandering souls

Wind, turbulence, evening no rest
I ship oars, to stay at whose gate

Notes

Yang Zhu’s tears – Yang Zhu 楊朱 (4th cen. BCE) was a philosopher who wept that every crossroads multiplied his chances of losing the way.

Chu’s wandering souls – the shamanic ritual of recalling the soul of one who is dying is enacted in two iconic long poems from the Songs of Chu anthology; also a reference to the poet Qu Yuan 屈原 (3rd cen. BCE).

曉發公安

北城擊柝復欲罷
東方明星亦不遲

鄰雞野哭如昨日
物色生態能幾時

舟楫眇然自此去
江湖遠適無前期

出門轉眄已陳跡
藥餌扶吾隨所之

22.22 [768]

Leaving Gongan at Dawn

On the northern wall, the struck watch-rattle is again about to cease
In the eastern sky, the Bright Star also does not tarry

A neighbor’s rooster and crying in the wilds are like yesterday
The lively appearance of things – how long will it last

A boat dwindles into the distance, leaving this place
To rivers and lakes faraway I go, without future promises

Going out the gate I turn to look – already old tracks
Medicine cakes will help me wherever I go

Notes

Bright Star – Venus, the Morning and Evening Star.

泊岳陽城下

江國踰千里
山城近百層

岸風翻夕浪
舟雪灑寒燈

留滯才難盡
艱危氣益增

圖南未可料
變化有鯤鵬

22.28 [768]

Mooring Beneath Yueyang’s City Wall

River kingdom beyond a thousand miles
Mountain city nearly hundred-tiered

Wind on the bank tosses evening waves
Snow in the boat sprinkles the cold lantern

Delayed and tied up, talent hard to extinguish
Amid difficulties and dangers, the more spirit rises

Southward journeys I cannot yet reckon
Through transformations that spawn Leviathan and Roc

Notes

Leviathan and Roc – The first chapter of the Zhuangzi 莊子 tells of a Kun or giant fish in northern seas (northern deeps, or northern darkness) that transforms into a Peng or giant bird, before journeying south. Kun-Peng’s southward journey, from north to south pole, from yin to yang, represents the awesome power of nature’s processes of change, as well as the spirit that soars free of all changes.

登岳陽樓

昔聞洞庭水
今上岳陽樓

吳楚東南坼
乾坤日夜浮

親朋無一字
老病有孤舟

戎馬關山北
憑軒涕泗流

22.30 [768]

Climbing Yueyang Tower

Long ago I heard of Dongting waters
Today I climb Yueyang Tower

Wu and Chu rive east and south
Heaven and earth float day and night

From family and friends, not a single word
Old and infirm – there’s a lonely boat

War horses north of border ranges
I lean on the railing and tears flow

宿白沙驛

水宿仍餘照
人煙復此亭

驛邊沙舊白
湖外草新青

萬象皆春氣
孤槎自客星

隨波無限月
的的近南溟

22.36 [769]

Staying at Baisha Station

We lodge on the water, still in lingering light
Woodsmoke, then it’s this pavilion

Around the station, sand’s old white
Beyond the lake, grass’s new green

Countless forms are spring’s spirit
The lone raft is itself a wandering star

Following waves, endless moonlight
Shimmers near the Southern Deeps

Notes

Southern Deeps – The mythical Peng bird arises in the North and journeys toward the Southern Deeps.

野望

納納乾坤大
行行郡國遙

雲山兼五嶺
風壤帶三苗

野樹侵江闊
春蒲長雪消

扁舟空老去
無補聖明朝

22.53 [769]

Gazing in the Wilds (IV)

Encompassing all, heaven and earth vast
Hard to travel, district and country remote

Cloudy peaks join Five Alps
Wind-blown silt girds Three Miao

Wild trees verge on the river in flood
Spring rushes lengthen as snow melts

On a small boat leaving for vain old age
I’ll fill no place in a sagely court

江漢

江漢思歸客
乾坤一腐儒

片雲天共遠
永夜月同孤

落日心猶壯
秋風病欲蘇

古來存老馬
不必取長途

23.11 [769]

Yangtze and Han

By Yangzte and Han, wanderer missing home
Between Heaven and Earth, one failed scholar

Wisps of clouds share sky’s distance
Long nights with the moon are bleak

Though the sun sets, my heart is still strong
In autumn wind, illnesses can improve

Since ancient times, old horses have been stabled
Not told to cover the long road

地隅

江漢山重阻
風雲地一隅

年年非故物
處處是窮途

喪亂秦公子
悲涼楚大夫

平生心已折
行路日荒蕪

23.12 [769]

Corner of Earth

Jianghan – hills rugged and hindering
Windblown clouds – one corner of earth

Year after year, no familiar thing
Everywhere is the end of the road

Fleeing chaos was a Qin gentleman
Disconsolate, that great man of Chu

I live but my heart is already broken
And the way, each day more desolate

Notes

Qin gentleman – Wang Can 王粲, a poet during the twilight years of the Han, who fled Chang’an to seek refuge in the South, when fighting broke out and the capital was thrown into chaos.

Great man of Chu – Qu Yuan 屈原 (3rd cen. BCE), a Chu nobleman and poet who drowned himself in exile; central figure, as both author and inspiration, of the great Songs of Chu anthology (see the final poem in the sequence “Rains” above).

對雪

北雪犯長沙
胡雲冷萬家

隨風且開葉
帶雨不成花

金錯囊垂罄
銀壺酒易賒

無人竭浮蟻
有待至昏鴉

23.14 [769]

Facing Snow (II)

Northern snow breaches Changsha
Hu clouds chill countless homes

On the wind unfurl leaves
Under rain crumble blossoms

My gold-embroidered purse hangs empty
For the silver jug, wine is easy to buy

No one downs the dregs
I wait for evening’s crows

Notes

Buy – On credit, that is. The verb she means to buy on credit.

Unfurl leaves / Crumble blossoms - Snowflakes are called “blossoms.” The snow forms a kind of foliage where it drifts in the trees, and disintegrates again when encountering rain.

客從

客從南溟來
遺我泉客珠

珠中有隱字
欲辨不成書

緘之篋笥久
以俟公家須

開視化為血
衰今徵斂無

23.17 [769]

A Guest From

A guest from southern seas came
Left me a mermaid’s pearl

On the pearl were secret words
I wanted to but couldn’t read

Long ago hidden in a case
Awaiting its public need

When opened, it has turned into blood
Sadly, nothing to pay taxes with

Notes

A riddle/parable about oppressive taxation. Southern seas indicates the empire’s southern provinces, where pearls were harvested.

小寒食舟中作

佳辰強飲食猶寒
隱几蕭條帶鶡冠

春水船如天上坐
老年花似霧中看

娟娟戲蝶過閒幔
片片輕鷗下急湍

雲白山青萬餘里
愁看直北是長安

23.33 [770]

Written in a Boat on Little Cold Food

Lovely morning, I try to drink, food is still cold
Leaning in my chair, bleakly I wear the pheasant cap

Spring waters – the boat seems to sit on sky
Old age – flowers appear as in a fog

Gracefully, butterflies cross my idle curtain
Again and again, light gulls land on swift currents

Clouds white, hills green – beyond countless miles
Sadly I look – directly north is Chang’an

Notes

“Little Cold Food” likely refers to the last day of Cold Food Festival, a three-day festival in April, during which fire was prohibited. The pheasant cap was worn by hermits. In Reconsidering Tu Fu: Literary Greatness and Cultural Context (Cambridge University Press, 1995), Eva Shan Chou describes the ending thus: “Chang’an is called into sudden existence, defined by a straight line from the poet’s unswerving heart. His intent, arrowlike, finds the shortest distance to its goal” (p.177).

過洞庭湖

蛟室圍青草
龍堆隱白沙

護堤盤古木
迎櫂舞神鴉

破浪南風正
回檣畏日斜

湖光與天遠
直欲泛仙槎

23.45 [770]

Crossing Lake Dongting

Serpent’s lair, bounded by green grass
Dragon’s mound, hidden beyond white sands

Sheltering the dike, ancient trees circle
Greeting oars, spirit crows dance

Shatter waves – south wind straight on
Swing the mast – worry the sun falls

Lake’s glimmer holds distant heaven
Any moment now, floats an immortal raft

Notes

Immortal raft – upon which the Han explorer Zhang Qian (2nd cen. BCE) was said to have sailed into the Milky Way – just like the fisherman in another story, referred to elsewhere.

Bibliography

• Kang-i Sun Chang & Stephen Owen, eds. The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
• Dang The Kiet & Nguyen Doan Vuong, eds. Han Viet Tu Dien Trich Dan, dictionary and language tools at www.vietnamtudien.org/hanviet.
• David Hawkes. A Little Primer of Tu Fu. Oxford University Press, 1967.
• David Hinton. The Selected Poems of Tu Fu. New Directions, 1989.
• Charles Hucker. A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China. Stanford University Press, 1985.
• William Hung. Tu Fu: China’s Greatest Poet. Harvard University Press, 1952.
• Paul W. Kroll & Ding Xiang Warner, eds. The Poetry of Du Fu [translated and edited by Stephen Owen]. De Gruyter, 2016. www.degruyter.com/view/product/246946
• David McCraw. Du Fu’s Laments from the South. University of Hawaii Press, 1992.
• Stephen Owen. The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High T’ang. Yale University Press, 1981.

Some quotes on Du Fu

I cannot claim to have fully understood Tu Fu, the poet. I believe I have a fairly accurate understanding of Tu Fu, the man. He appeared to be a filial son, an affectionate father, a generous brother, a faithful husband, a loyal friend, a dutiful official, and a patriotic subject. He was not only a good man, but also a wise one.

    --Willian Hung, Tu Fu: China’s Greatest Poet

When the poet so frankly and so repeatedly places himself, one way or another, at the center of almost every poem, reader identification is a necessary first step in order to empathize with his approach. Collections of remarks on poetry echo with the voices of readers who both identified with the pathos of Tu Fu’s situation and admired the obduracy of his dedication. It seems that whatever one’s initial stance, in the end the constant reader of Tu Fu is brought to acknowledge the essential need for admiration and identification in order to read his poems.

    --Eva Shan Chou, Reconsidering Tu Fu: Literary Greatness and Cultural Context

The magnificent sorrow of this threnody for dying nature [“Climbing High”] ends with Tu Fu’s remark that he has had to give up drinking. Whether the tone intended is fretful or, as I suspect, humorous ... it is hard not to find this ending uncomfortable. Yet Tu Fu does this sort of thing so often that one must look for something other than mere neurotic self-pity if one is to reach any sort of understanding with him at all.

My own view is that Tu Fu’s famous compassion in fact includes himself, viewed quite objectively and almost as an afterthought. We can perhaps understand this poem if we think of a typical Chinese landscape with a tiny figure in one corner of it looking at the view. In this poem the little figure is Tu Fu himself, who, far from solipsistically shrinking the landscape to his own dimensions, lends grandeur to it by contrasting it with his own slightly comical triviality.

    --David Hawkes, A Little Primer of Tu Fu

It is ironic to note that, as we get more remote from Du Fu’s time and historical traces, we seem to grow more certain we have reconstructed what he must have been like. Actually, I doubt that the Du Fu discussed in this book is much more than a textual construct.

    --David McCraw, Du Fu’s Laments from the South