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Du Fu - 5
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Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Journey North 333 Old men, let me make a song for you, I am put to shame by your deep feelings in hardship.
When the song is done, I look up to heaven and sigh, 16 and tears stream freely from all around.
5.
27 Journey North1 Our Imperial Majesty?
s second year, autumn, first day of the month, an adjusted eighth,2 I, Master Du, was to set off on a journey north, 4 over vast uncertain space to see my family.
In these times we have met with great affliction, free days are few in court or countryside.
I consider the undue grant of special grace, 8 how an edict permitted return to my humble home.
I went to the palace gates to take my leave, shaken with awe, it was long ere I could go.
Though I lack the qualities for offering criticism, 12 I feared lest my ruler overlook some matter.
My ruler is true lord of the Restoration, sedulously striving indeed to manage affairs.
The revolt of the eastern Hu is not over,3 16 and your subject Du Fu was stung with fury.
1 Original note: ?
Composed when I had reached Fengxiang, and a personal edict from the emperor released me to go to Fuzhou?
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2 This is August 20, 757.
The calendar required the adjustment of an additional eighth month (a ?
lesser?
eighth month) added before the eighth month proper.
3 That is, of An Lushan and Shi Siming.
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Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Journey North 335 I wiped away tears, yearning for the court-in-exile, and my course was still an uncertain blur.
Heaven and Earth bear wounds and scars, 20 when will our misery ever cease?
With slow steps I traversed the field paths, the smoke of hearths, far and faint in the gloom.
Those I met had mostly suffered wounds, 24 they groaned and kept on streaming with blood.
I turned my head back to Fengxiang County,1 late in the day its banners appeared and faded from view.
I climbed the folds of cold mountains ahead, 28 often finding watering holes for my horse.
I entered Bin?
s moor down at the base of the ground, the Jing?
s waters churned through its midst.
Fierce tigers stood before me, 32 the gray slopes split when they roared.
From chrysanthemums hung this autumn? s blooms, the rock bore the ruts of ancient carts. The blue clouds stirred high spirits, 36 experiences in seclusion may still be enjoyed. Mountain berries in many tiny bits grew in stretches mixed with chestnut oaks. Some were red like cinnabar pebbles, 40 others, black like spots of lacquer. 1 Fengxiang was the seat of the restoration government where Suzong held court. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 336 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 44 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 48 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 52 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 56 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 60 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 64 ? ? ? ? ? ? Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Journey North 337 Wherever the rain and dew brings moisture fruits form, the sweet and the bitter alike. I thought of Peach Blossom Spring, so remote,1 44 increasing sighs over the blunders of my life. From the rises I gazed to Fu? s Altar,2 which emerged and sank away as I crossed valley and cliff. I had already gone on to the shores of a stream, 48 and my servant was still in the tips of the trees. 3 Owls screeched in the brown mulberry trees, ground squirrels folded hands by their scattered dens. In the depths of night I passed through a battlefield, 52 where the cold moon shone on white bones. An army of a million at Tong Pass? back then they scattered so swiftly! 4 In consequence half the folk of Qin 56 were destroyed and made into non-human things. 5 What? s more I fell into the dust of the Hu, coming home, my hair is all streaked with gray. A year has passed, and I reach my thatched cottage,6 60 wife and children? s clothes patched in a hundred places. Stirred to weeping, the sound of pines replies, and mournful streams join our secret sobs. The son whom I always have doted on, 64 his complexion is whiter than snow. 1 *Peach Blossom Spring. 2 Fu? s Altar, by legend constructed by Duke Wen of Qin, was a mound that marked Fuzhou, where Du Fu? s family was located. 3 That is, the servant is behind him, higher up the slope. 4 This refers to the disastrous defeat of the hastily assembled imperial army outside of Tong Pass. 5 That is, ghosts, not having been buried with the proper ceremonies. 6 That is, a year since he left his family in Fuzhou and went back to Chang? an, at the point when it fell to An Lushan? s forces. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 338 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 68 ? ? ?
From chrysanthemums hung this autumn? s blooms, the rock bore the ruts of ancient carts. The blue clouds stirred high spirits, 36 experiences in seclusion may still be enjoyed. Mountain berries in many tiny bits grew in stretches mixed with chestnut oaks. Some were red like cinnabar pebbles, 40 others, black like spots of lacquer. 1 Fengxiang was the seat of the restoration government where Suzong held court. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 336 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 44 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 48 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 52 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 56 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 60 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 64 ? ? ? ? ? ? Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Journey North 337 Wherever the rain and dew brings moisture fruits form, the sweet and the bitter alike. I thought of Peach Blossom Spring, so remote,1 44 increasing sighs over the blunders of my life. From the rises I gazed to Fu? s Altar,2 which emerged and sank away as I crossed valley and cliff. I had already gone on to the shores of a stream, 48 and my servant was still in the tips of the trees. 3 Owls screeched in the brown mulberry trees, ground squirrels folded hands by their scattered dens. In the depths of night I passed through a battlefield, 52 where the cold moon shone on white bones. An army of a million at Tong Pass? back then they scattered so swiftly! 4 In consequence half the folk of Qin 56 were destroyed and made into non-human things. 5 What? s more I fell into the dust of the Hu, coming home, my hair is all streaked with gray. A year has passed, and I reach my thatched cottage,6 60 wife and children? s clothes patched in a hundred places. Stirred to weeping, the sound of pines replies, and mournful streams join our secret sobs. The son whom I always have doted on, 64 his complexion is whiter than snow. 1 *Peach Blossom Spring. 2 Fu? s Altar, by legend constructed by Duke Wen of Qin, was a mound that marked Fuzhou, where Du Fu? s family was located. 3 That is, the servant is behind him, higher up the slope. 4 This refers to the disastrous defeat of the hastily assembled imperial army outside of Tong Pass. 5 That is, ghosts, not having been buried with the proper ceremonies. 6 That is, a year since he left his family in Fuzhou and went back to Chang? an, at the point when it fell to An Lushan? s forces. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 338 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 68 ? ? ?
