2 Approaching old age, my
loneliness
in travel is extreme, 8 pained by these times, the chance to meet is remote.
Du Fu - 5
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Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Getting a Letter from Home 299 In the mountains under a leaky thatch roof, is there anyone still leaning at the window?
1 In the roots of a broken gray-green pine, 20 the ground is so cold that their bones won?
t have rotted.
How many people escaped with their lives?
?
how can the entire household be together again?
Mountainous land, a field for fierce tigers, 24 my heart knots within, I turn my head.
Since I sent them a letter, it has already been more than ten months.
Now instead I dread that news will come?
28 what feelings are there in this heart?
The Han?
s fate now for the first time rises anew,2 all my life I have been a lover of ale.
I yearn deeply for that moment of joyous reunion 32 and fear becoming a poor and solitary old man.
5.
9 Getting a Letter from Home I counted on a traveler to send one, coming back, he was entrusted with a letter from home.
Today I got the news, 4 that they are living there where they were before.
1 He is imagining that his wife may have been killed.
She would lean at the window, thinking of him and hoping he would come back.
2 That is, the fate of the Tang.
Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 300 ?
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Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Seeing Off Attendant Censor Zhangsun (9) 301 Luckily there is nothing wrong with Xiong?
er,1 but Jizi is the one I dote on most.
2 Approaching old age, my loneliness in travel is extreme, 8 pained by these times, the chance to meet is remote. With graying hair I scurry in the tent palace, appointed, I attend on the phoenix-belled palanquin. The north palace towers are filled with demon vapors,3 12 but on the western meadows the white dew begins. 4 A cool wind, wild geese newly passing, with autumn rains fish will be born. Farming in those deserted mountains? 16 in reflection on what has happened, at last I? ll shoulder a hoe. 5. 10 Seeing Off Attendant Censor Zhangsun (9), Setting Off for a Position as Administrative Assistant in Wuwei The hooves of the dappled gray have recently been nailed,5 it has been covered well with a silver saddle. In brocade robes, a lad with seals yellow and white,6 4 rides off on the Cross Rivers Road. 7 For this journey of ten thousand leagues I ask why do you take leave so hurriedly? ? The Son of Heaven worries about Liangzhou, 8 on a strict schedule I should arrive as soon as I can. ? 1 Xiong? er, ? Bear-cub,? was the child name of his son Zongwen. 2 Jizi, ? Courser,? was the child name of his son Zongwu. 3 That is, Chang? an is still occupied by rebels. 4 The sign that autumn is coming. 5 A dappled gray was conventionally associated with an office in the censorate. 6 The brocade robe was a mark of Zhangsun? s office. The ? yellow and white? are gold and silver, the seals of Zhangsun? s office. 7 Cross Rivers ( Yarkhoto) was in the northwestern frontier region; Wuwei (Liangzhou), where Zhangsun is headed, was north of Fengxiang. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 302 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 12 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 16 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 20 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 24 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 28 ? ? ? ? ? ? Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Seeing Off Attendant Censor Zhangsun (9) 303 Last autumn the Hu horde rebelled,1 you cannot fail to sweep them away like lightning. On this journey you will gather the remaining peasants,2 12 and will then revive the customs there. My great uncle is the high commander,3 his reputation is as a senior of the realm. The best of my colleagues has been snatched away, 16 swept afar, to inspect a fortress. This makes me unable to eat, and causes me unpleasant feelings. Such a man? s talented thoughts are vast, 20 a dark sea inundating the most remote isles. In drinking I have lost one of the poets, while the frontier has gotten a jewel of the realm. August Heaven grieves sending him so far, 24 clouds and rain are white and flooding. Beacon fires are still on the Eastern Meadow,4 people look gaunt and distressed in court and wilderness. If even the pillar of the furthest west collapses,5 28 how will it be possible to set aright the vault of sky? 1 The ? Hu? here refers to the Tibetans. 2 Presumably the Han Chinese farming population. 3 Du Hongjian. 4 That is, Chang? an. 5 That is, the fall of much of Wuwei Commandery. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 304 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 5. 11 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
2 Approaching old age, my loneliness in travel is extreme, 8 pained by these times, the chance to meet is remote. With graying hair I scurry in the tent palace, appointed, I attend on the phoenix-belled palanquin. The north palace towers are filled with demon vapors,3 12 but on the western meadows the white dew begins. 4 A cool wind, wild geese newly passing, with autumn rains fish will be born. Farming in those deserted mountains? 16 in reflection on what has happened, at last I? ll shoulder a hoe. 5. 10 Seeing Off Attendant Censor Zhangsun (9), Setting Off for a Position as Administrative Assistant in Wuwei The hooves of the dappled gray have recently been nailed,5 it has been covered well with a silver saddle. In brocade robes, a lad with seals yellow and white,6 4 rides off on the Cross Rivers Road. 7 For this journey of ten thousand leagues I ask why do you take leave so hurriedly? ? The Son of Heaven worries about Liangzhou, 8 on a strict schedule I should arrive as soon as I can. ? 1 Xiong? er, ? Bear-cub,? was the child name of his son Zongwen. 2 Jizi, ? Courser,? was the child name of his son Zongwu. 3 That is, Chang? an is still occupied by rebels. 4 The sign that autumn is coming. 5 A dappled gray was conventionally associated with an office in the censorate. 6 The brocade robe was a mark of Zhangsun? s office. The ? yellow and white? are gold and silver, the seals of Zhangsun? s office. 7 Cross Rivers ( Yarkhoto) was in the northwestern frontier region; Wuwei (Liangzhou), where Zhangsun is headed, was north of Fengxiang. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 302 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 12 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 16 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 20 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 24 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 28 ? ? ? ? ? ? Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Seeing Off Attendant Censor Zhangsun (9) 303 Last autumn the Hu horde rebelled,1 you cannot fail to sweep them away like lightning. On this journey you will gather the remaining peasants,2 12 and will then revive the customs there. My great uncle is the high commander,3 his reputation is as a senior of the realm. The best of my colleagues has been snatched away, 16 swept afar, to inspect a fortress. This makes me unable to eat, and causes me unpleasant feelings. Such a man? s talented thoughts are vast, 20 a dark sea inundating the most remote isles. In drinking I have lost one of the poets, while the frontier has gotten a jewel of the realm. August Heaven grieves sending him so far, 24 clouds and rain are white and flooding. Beacon fires are still on the Eastern Meadow,4 people look gaunt and distressed in court and wilderness. If even the pillar of the furthest west collapses,5 28 how will it be possible to set aright the vault of sky? 1 The ? Hu? here refers to the Tibetans. 2 Presumably the Han Chinese farming population. 3 Du Hongjian. 4 That is, Chang? an. 5 That is, the fall of much of Wuwei Commandery. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 304 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 5. 11 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
