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Gradually
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Du Fu - 5
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Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Respectfully Seeing Off Guo Yingyi, Vice Censor in Chief and Chief Minister 311 The sinking sun lights up your carriage awning, a strong wind ripples the streamers and flags.
Pines mourn in the cold of Tianshui, 12 sands roil in the clarity of the Mountains of Snow.
Barbarians, now on peaceful terms, still think on kind grace,1 in protecting the frontier we dare not alarm them.
Since ancient days in those foreign regions 16 one guards the peace by demonstrating the authority to campaign.
2 At Yan and Ji the huge boar ran amok,3 Zhou and Qin were struck by the rampant leviathan.
4 How the Central Plain has been cast in darkness!
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20 and the remaining spawn still rage at will.
Arrows entered Zhaoyang Palace, reed pipes moaned at Thinwillow Camp.
5 Palace ladies sobbed on their red sleeves, 24 princes of the blood went in commoners?
clothes.
A demon constellation shook the Pole Star, the aura of killing lay level over the imperial tombs.
The golden cups, remaining in vain, were taken, 28 no more, the tasseled curtains blowing lightly.
6 Ruined ancestral temples, Heaven sent rain flying, burning palaces, fires lasting to daylight.
The netting all fell down at dawn,7 32 camphor beams at night crashed down together.
1 At the time Suzong had a peace with the Tibetans.
2 That is, the general has authorization from the emperor to undertake military operations when required.
3 An Lushan.
4 Luoyang and Chang?
an, taken by An Lushan?
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5 Reed pipes were associated with the music of non-Han peoples.
Thinwillow Camp, near Chang?
an, was where the Han general Zhou Yafu camped his army to oppose a threat from the Xiongnu.
6 This describes the plundering of the imperial tombs.
The golden cups were grave goods; the tassled curtains were used in offerings to the spirit of the deceased ruler.
7 Nets over the doors and windows of the palace to keep out birds.
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Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Respectfully Seeing Off Guo Yingyi, Vice Censor in Chief and Chief Minister 313 In three months the army is increasingly well-trained, the Hu horde is headed for the cooking fire.
All scarred, you personally joined in battle, 36 brave and decisive, you crown the impending achievement.
For fine repute you are expected to become minister, by special grace you were ranked as one of the high lords.
When will you bring back the standard and axe,1 40 unite our forces and sweep away the ill-omened comet?
Three thousand gentlemen in holes in the wall,2 ladder to the clouds, seventy cities.
3 I am ashamed I am not that Qi persuader,4 44 I only resemble those men of Lu.
5 I, on the register, unworthy of even minor rank;6 you, in glory, seated alone among the Zhou officers.
7 Shoulder to shoulder, I scurry at the appointed time,8 48 in my thinning hair I lodge hatpins and ribbons.
I would straightaway become a dependent of Liu Biao, but I suspect he would grow sick of Mi Heng.
9 Gradually aging, how can I at this parting 52 hold back tears, alone keeping feelings within? In abandoned cities foxes and badgers talk, in deserted villages tigers and leopards contend. 1 Marks of military authority. 2 Confucius was supposed to have had three thousand disciples; this refers to scholars living in poverty. 3 The persuader Li Yiji told Liu Bang that he could take the seventy cities of Qi without effort. The scholars of the preceding line could render the same service now if they were recognized. 4 Li Yiji. 5 After Liu Bang (Han Gaozu, r. 206? 195 BCE) established the Han, his advisor Shusun Tong recommended that Confucian scholars of Lu be summoned to make Liu Bang? s court ritual. 6 This refers to Du Fu? s post as reminder. 7 Guangwudi (r. 25? 57 CE) allowed three officers separate seats in court, one of which was Vice Censor in chief. This refers to Guo Yingyi? s rank. 8 To court. 9 *Mi Heng. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 314 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 56 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 60 ? ? ? ? ? ? 5. 14 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 4 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 8 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 12 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Seeing Off Administrative Assistant Yang (6) On a Mission to Tibet 315 The people often fall into disaster, 56 how could you forget your sincere commitment! The supreme commander tunes the pitch-pipes anew,1 the vanguard is hard upon the former capital. After pacifying the border you will again join the entourage, 60 let your deeds and fame fall behind none. 5. 14 Seeing Off Administrative Assistant Yang (6) On a Mission to Tibet Sending you afar, the autumn wind sinks away, the Kokonor weather is cold as you journey west. Ill-omened vapors fill the imperial city, 4 in the human world parting is hard. Even those farthest regions feel anger,2 by a marriage pact we wish to form good ties. 3 An imperial letter expresses affection for the Btsan-po,4 8 those in armor gaze toward Chang? an. A proclamation made that the journey ahead is urgent, the good man treats his gentlemen generously. 5 May our Ziyun be pure and guard himself,6 12 this day you have been raised to an official post. Shedding tears, you now cast down your brush,7 and at once grasp your saddle, lamenting the times. 1 Suzong? s son, Li Chu, the Prince of Guangping, was made supreme commander. ? Tuning the pitch-pipes? is restoring political order. 2 Presumably anger at the rebel occupation of the capital. 3 With the Tibetans. 4 The Btsan-po was the term for the ruler of Tibet. 5 Nan Juchuan, the head of the mission to Tibet. 6 Du Fu refers to Yang in terms of the Han writer *Yang Xiong (Ziyun). 7 ? Casting down one? s brush? refers to giving up a scholar? s role for a military position, as Ban Chao did when he went to serve in the army in the Eastern Han. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 316 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 16 ? ? ? ? ?
9 Gradually aging, how can I at this parting 52 hold back tears, alone keeping feelings within? In abandoned cities foxes and badgers talk, in deserted villages tigers and leopards contend. 1 Marks of military authority. 2 Confucius was supposed to have had three thousand disciples; this refers to scholars living in poverty. 3 The persuader Li Yiji told Liu Bang that he could take the seventy cities of Qi without effort. The scholars of the preceding line could render the same service now if they were recognized. 4 Li Yiji. 5 After Liu Bang (Han Gaozu, r. 206? 195 BCE) established the Han, his advisor Shusun Tong recommended that Confucian scholars of Lu be summoned to make Liu Bang? s court ritual. 6 This refers to Du Fu? s post as reminder. 7 Guangwudi (r. 25? 57 CE) allowed three officers separate seats in court, one of which was Vice Censor in chief. This refers to Guo Yingyi? s rank. 8 To court. 9 *Mi Heng. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 314 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 56 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 60 ? ? ? ? ? ? 5. 14 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 4 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 8 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 12 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Seeing Off Administrative Assistant Yang (6) On a Mission to Tibet 315 The people often fall into disaster, 56 how could you forget your sincere commitment! The supreme commander tunes the pitch-pipes anew,1 the vanguard is hard upon the former capital. After pacifying the border you will again join the entourage, 60 let your deeds and fame fall behind none. 5. 14 Seeing Off Administrative Assistant Yang (6) On a Mission to Tibet Sending you afar, the autumn wind sinks away, the Kokonor weather is cold as you journey west. Ill-omened vapors fill the imperial city, 4 in the human world parting is hard. Even those farthest regions feel anger,2 by a marriage pact we wish to form good ties. 3 An imperial letter expresses affection for the Btsan-po,4 8 those in armor gaze toward Chang? an. A proclamation made that the journey ahead is urgent, the good man treats his gentlemen generously. 5 May our Ziyun be pure and guard himself,6 12 this day you have been raised to an official post. Shedding tears, you now cast down your brush,7 and at once grasp your saddle, lamenting the times. 1 Suzong? s son, Li Chu, the Prince of Guangping, was made supreme commander. ? Tuning the pitch-pipes? is restoring political order. 2 Presumably anger at the rebel occupation of the capital. 3 With the Tibetans. 4 The Btsan-po was the term for the ruler of Tibet. 5 Nan Juchuan, the head of the mission to Tibet. 6 Du Fu refers to Yang in terms of the Han writer *Yang Xiong (Ziyun). 7 ? Casting down one? s brush? refers to giving up a scholar? s role for a military position, as Ban Chao did when he went to serve in the army in the Eastern Han. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 316 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 16 ? ? ? ? ?
