9 Getting a Letter from Home I counted on a
traveler
to send one, coming back, he was entrusted with a letter from home.
Du Fu - 5
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Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM An Account of My Concerns 297 You will discuss military matters in the serenity of a distant ravine, you can also seek mysteries to your heart?
s content If you get fine lines in writing poems, 48 send them to me sometime in a letter.
5.
8 An Account of My Concerns Last year Tong Pass was broken, I have long been cut off from wife and children.
This summer, as plants and trees grew tall, 4 I escaped and got to flee west.
In hemp sandals I met the Son of Heaven, both elbows showed through the sleeves of my clothes.
The court had sympathy that I had made it alive, 8 old friends were pained at how old and ugly I had become.
With tears I received the Reminder?
s post, our lord?
s grace was great for those who fled.
Though I could have gone off to my ramshackle gate,1 12 I could not bring myself to mention it right then.
I sent a letter asking of Three Rivers,2 not knowing whether my family survived.
Since then I heard that all there had suffered calamity, 16 massacred down to the chickens and dogs.
1 That is, to go to see after his family.
2 A county next to Fuzhou, where Du Fu?
s family was staying.
Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 298 ?
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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?
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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 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 8 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 12 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 16 ? ? ? ? ? ? 5. 10 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 4 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 8 ? ? ? ? ? ? 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 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
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 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 8 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 12 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 16 ? ? ? ? ? ? 5. 10 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 4 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 8 ? ? ? ? ? ? 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 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
