23 Yuhua Palace4 The stream valley turns, the wind steady in the pines, a gray rat
scuttles
under ancient tiles.
Du Fu - 5
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Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Jiucheng Palace 325 realized that he was essentially wrong in his support of Fang Guan; he saw himself as the principled minister who risked all to speak the truth.
In this context Du Fu asked for and was granted permission to visit his family in Fuzhou, several hundred miles from Fengxiang.
According to the original note, this poem was composed in Binzhou, after Du Fu had gone about one-third of the way on foot (and no doubt realized how difficult it would have been to make the entire journey on foot).
Since horses had all been requisitioned for military use, Du Fu wrote the poem to General Li Siye, asking to borrow a horse.
5.
22 Jiucheng Palace1 I went into gray-green mountains a hundred leagues, the cliff was broken, like a mortar.
This layered palace lies against whirling gusts, 4 looming at the mouth of a hole in the earth.
Gods were placed to support its rafters and beams, they bored into azure foliage to open doors and windows.
The sunlit southern slopes produce numinous mushrooms; 8 on shadowy north slope rest Oxherd and Dipper Fanning out, tall pines hang inverted, jutting jagged, weird rocks rush.
Mournful gibbons give a single cry, 12 and the traveler?
s tears gush in woods and bog.
Ungoverned indeed?
that Sui emperor, constructing this, now fallen and rotting.
Had he then not caused his domain to be destroyed, 16 how could it have become the possession of the mighty Tang?
Even though there are no recent additions or repairs, they still assign an officer to guard it.
1 Jiucheng Palace, so called because it was built on nine levels on a mountain, was originally the Renshou Palace of the Sui.
It was refurbished in the reign of Taizong and served as a summer palace during his reign and that of his successor Gaozong.
Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 326 ?
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Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Yuhua Palace 327 Imperial expeditions went not so far as Alabaster Pool,1 20 his traces are here in the aftermath of carved walls.
2 My travels belong to perilous times, I look up and gaze at this, sighing long.
Our divine king holds a winter hunt on Mount Taibai,3 24 I halt my horse and still scratch my head.
5.
23 Yuhua Palace4 The stream valley turns, the wind steady in the pines, a gray rat scuttles under ancient tiles. I know not what royal palace this was, 4 edifice abandoned beneath the sheer cliff. In shadowy chambers ghost-fires are green,5 mournful rivulets pour over broken roadways. The myriad vents are the true ocarinas,6 8 autumn colors are at their most brisk and aloof. Its fair women have become the brown earth, still more, their artifice of powder and mascara. Waiting on the golden carriage back then, 12 of the former things there are only the stone horses. Cares come, I smooth down the grass and sit, sing out loud, tears filling my open hands. 1 This refers to the expedition of Zhou King Mu to meet the Queen Mother of the West, who feasted him at Alabaster Pool in the Kunlun Mountains. 2 That is, the extravagance of Sui Yangdi can been seen in the ornament of the ruins, which serve as evidence of why the Sui fell. 3 The ? hunt? was a euphemism for an emperor in flight from his capital. Mount Taibai was close to Fengxiang, Suzong? s temporary capital. 4 Yuhua Palace had been constructed in 647 for Taizong as a summer palace to escape the heat of Chang? an. It was later made a temple, and was clearly abandoned by the time Du Fu saw it. 5 These are will-o-the-wisps. 6 The ? myriad vents,? wanlai ? ? , are those described in Zhuangzi, the holes on the earth whose sounds are the piping of Nature. These are opposed to the ? ocarinas,? the sheng and yu, reed organs of a Chinese orchestra. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 328 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 16 ? ? ? ? ? ? 5. 24? 26 ? ? ? ? I ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 4 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 8 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 12 ? ? ? ? ? ? II ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Qiang Village 329 Going steadily on in my travels, 16 none there is who can live long years. 5. 24? 26 Qiang Village I West of red clouds looming sunbeams descend on level land. At the ramshackle gate sparrows raise a din? 4 the traveler has come back across a thousand leagues. My wife and children are amazed I survived, when surprise settles, they wipe away tears. I was tossed about in the world? s troubles, 8 now by luck I have managed to come back alive. Neighbors fill the tops of the walls, stirred to sighs, and even sobbing. At night? s end I again take candle 12 and face you as if in a dream. II My late years press hard on a stolen life, coming home, the pleasures are few. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 330 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 4 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 8 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
23 Yuhua Palace4 The stream valley turns, the wind steady in the pines, a gray rat scuttles under ancient tiles. I know not what royal palace this was, 4 edifice abandoned beneath the sheer cliff. In shadowy chambers ghost-fires are green,5 mournful rivulets pour over broken roadways. The myriad vents are the true ocarinas,6 8 autumn colors are at their most brisk and aloof. Its fair women have become the brown earth, still more, their artifice of powder and mascara. Waiting on the golden carriage back then, 12 of the former things there are only the stone horses. Cares come, I smooth down the grass and sit, sing out loud, tears filling my open hands. 1 This refers to the expedition of Zhou King Mu to meet the Queen Mother of the West, who feasted him at Alabaster Pool in the Kunlun Mountains. 2 That is, the extravagance of Sui Yangdi can been seen in the ornament of the ruins, which serve as evidence of why the Sui fell. 3 The ? hunt? was a euphemism for an emperor in flight from his capital. Mount Taibai was close to Fengxiang, Suzong? s temporary capital. 4 Yuhua Palace had been constructed in 647 for Taizong as a summer palace to escape the heat of Chang? an. It was later made a temple, and was clearly abandoned by the time Du Fu saw it. 5 These are will-o-the-wisps. 6 The ? myriad vents,? wanlai ? ? , are those described in Zhuangzi, the holes on the earth whose sounds are the piping of Nature. These are opposed to the ? ocarinas,? the sheng and yu, reed organs of a Chinese orchestra. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 328 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 16 ? ? ? ? ? ? 5. 24? 26 ? ? ? ? I ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 4 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 8 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 12 ? ? ? ? ? ? II ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Qiang Village 329 Going steadily on in my travels, 16 none there is who can live long years. 5. 24? 26 Qiang Village I West of red clouds looming sunbeams descend on level land. At the ramshackle gate sparrows raise a din? 4 the traveler has come back across a thousand leagues. My wife and children are amazed I survived, when surprise settles, they wipe away tears. I was tossed about in the world? s troubles, 8 now by luck I have managed to come back alive. Neighbors fill the tops of the walls, stirred to sighs, and even sobbing. At night? s end I again take candle 12 and face you as if in a dream. II My late years press hard on a stolen life, coming home, the pleasures are few. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 330 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 4 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 8 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
