The phoenix-belled
palanquin
halts at Fengxiang,1 Tonggu serves as its throat.
Du Fu - 5
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Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Seeing Off Attendant Censor Fan (23) on his Way to a Post 291 Whirling gusts blow on the solitary tree, the bright sun shines on the sleeve I grasp.
1 Moved to tears in the gray-green mist, 32 mountain gates, closed in ten thousand layers.
The one who stays is gloomy in the vastness, and the traveler is now far in the distance.
I pace about, sad at this parting of the living, 36 cramped up, old in my generation.
They sang of people left over from the time of Tao and Tang,2 the Later Han continued a line of emperors.
3 Distressed that I don?
t look like one to restore the dynasty, 40 I would just go off from this point on.
Not a few of Du Fu?
s poems from this period are seeing such men off as they went to take up their posts.
In poetic terms Du Fu gives the background of the situation, explains why the post is a critical one in terms of the current military situation, and gives the recipient a sense that what he is doing is important.
He often does this in his later poetry as well, but the clarity of the problems in the current political crisis gives these poems an edge.
In peaceful times to be sent from the imperial presence to a post in the provinces would be a cause for resentment?
even though in this case there was probably no diminishment in his grade in the civil service.
Du Fu explains why this is a mark of imperial confidence in the recipient?
s abilities and how crucial the post is?
ensuring the transport of tax revenues to the throne.
1 The sleeve was grasped in parting.
2 This refers to the famous visit of the Prince of Wu to Lu, recounted in the Zuo Tradition (Xiang 29).
The prince listened to the Classic of Poetry, commenting on each section.
His response to the Airs of Tang was that ?
their brooding was deep,?
and that they must be ?
people left over from Tao and Tang.
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Tao and Tang were the fiefs of Yao, hence referring to that sage-king.
The allusion is based on ?
longing for Tang,?
as both Yao and the current dynasty.
3 That is, as the Eastern Han continued the dynasty after the usurpation of Wang Mang, so the Tang will continue after the An Lushan Rebellion.
Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 292 ?
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Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Seeing Off Case Reviewer Wei (16) 293 5.
7 Seeing Off Case Reviewer Wei (16) to Temporarily Fill the Post of�Defense Administrative Assistant in Tonggu In the past, when I had fallen among the rebels, I went roaming with you incognito.
Now we have come to the temporary capital, 4 in the king?
s service some stay and some go.
Hard-pressed among troops and horses, the ruler worries about the urgent need for good counsel.
Although your stature is small, 8 your mature energy stretches across the nine regions.
You roused yourself on occasion of the troubles, opened your eyes wide and took a look at the enemy.
The court thought your principles vigorous, 12 receiving a summons, you were ordered to take part in planning.
The phoenix-belled palanquin halts at Fengxiang,1 Tonggu serves as its throat. It holds the road west to the Ruo River, 16 it guards the borders of Fuhan Commandery to the south. In the age of peace, this land was the shame of its officers because of banditry. Even more now, when the Hu are not yet destroyed,2 20 the scope of its reach goes far into the wilderness. 1 That is, the Emperor has set up his temporary capital there. 2 The rebels. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 294 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 24 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 28 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 32 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 36 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 40 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 44 ? ? ? ? ? ? Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Seeing Off Case Reviewer Wei (16) 295 In the headquarters Defense Commissioner Wei1 has the way to demonstrate accommodating gentleness. 2 His excellent nephew is an extraordinary talent? 24 with two such fine men, what more do they need? You received your orders at the foot of Taibai, you will gallop your horse to beside Chou Pool. 3 Of ancient aspect, where sand and earth split, 28 with massed shadow, the snow and clouds thick. Old Qiang there wear boots of boar-hide,4 young Qiang wear capes of blue rhino skin. Bugles are blown facing the Cave of the Moon,5 32 in the gray mountains the banners are mournful. The birds are startled, coming out from dead trees, dragons rage and rise up in old tarns. Since ancient days, an uninhabited realm, 36 in this present age, pikes and lances are brandished. Painful, indeed, that a man of letters and learning, should gallop those wooded hills, stirred to rage. On the Central Plain they are fighting now, 40 what means will we have to meet again? In life? s hundred years our fates are sealed, how can we tell whether we will sink or float? Yet for the moment I cherish my good friend, 44 clasping his hand as we walk by the roadside. 1 Case Reviewer Wei? s uncle. 2 ? Accommodating gentleness? was a principle of successful governance. 3 In Tonggu. 4 The Qiang were a Tibetan people who inhabited the region. 5 The Cave of the Moon was supposed to be in the far west. Chinese armies moved through Tonggu westward. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 296 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
The phoenix-belled palanquin halts at Fengxiang,1 Tonggu serves as its throat. It holds the road west to the Ruo River, 16 it guards the borders of Fuhan Commandery to the south. In the age of peace, this land was the shame of its officers because of banditry. Even more now, when the Hu are not yet destroyed,2 20 the scope of its reach goes far into the wilderness. 1 That is, the Emperor has set up his temporary capital there. 2 The rebels. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 294 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 24 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 28 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 32 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 36 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 40 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 44 ? ? ? ? ? ? Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Seeing Off Case Reviewer Wei (16) 295 In the headquarters Defense Commissioner Wei1 has the way to demonstrate accommodating gentleness. 2 His excellent nephew is an extraordinary talent? 24 with two such fine men, what more do they need? You received your orders at the foot of Taibai, you will gallop your horse to beside Chou Pool. 3 Of ancient aspect, where sand and earth split, 28 with massed shadow, the snow and clouds thick. Old Qiang there wear boots of boar-hide,4 young Qiang wear capes of blue rhino skin. Bugles are blown facing the Cave of the Moon,5 32 in the gray mountains the banners are mournful. The birds are startled, coming out from dead trees, dragons rage and rise up in old tarns. Since ancient days, an uninhabited realm, 36 in this present age, pikes and lances are brandished. Painful, indeed, that a man of letters and learning, should gallop those wooded hills, stirred to rage. On the Central Plain they are fighting now, 40 what means will we have to meet again? In life? s hundred years our fates are sealed, how can we tell whether we will sink or float? Yet for the moment I cherish my good friend, 44 clasping his hand as we walk by the roadside. 1 Case Reviewer Wei? s uncle. 2 ? Accommodating gentleness? was a principle of successful governance. 3 In Tonggu. 4 The Qiang were a Tibetan people who inhabited the region. 5 The Cave of the Moon was supposed to be in the far west. Chinese armies moved through Tonggu westward. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 296 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
