8 An Account of My
Concerns
Last year Tong Pass was broken, I have long been cut off from wife and children.
Du Fu - 5
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Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Seeing Off Case Reviewer Wei (16) 295 In the headquarters Defense Commissioner Wei1 has the way to demonstrate accommodating gentleness.
2 His excellent nephew is an extraordinary talent?
24 with two such fine men, what more do they need?
You received your orders at the foot of Taibai, you will gallop your horse to beside Chou Pool.
3 Of ancient aspect, where sand and earth split, 28 with massed shadow, the snow and clouds thick.
Old Qiang there wear boots of boar-hide,4 young Qiang wear capes of blue rhino skin.
Bugles are blown facing the Cave of the Moon,5 32 in the gray mountains the banners are mournful.
The birds are startled, coming out from dead trees, dragons rage and rise up in old tarns.
Since ancient days, an uninhabited realm, 36 in this present age, pikes and lances are brandished.
Painful, indeed, that a man of letters and learning, should gallop those wooded hills, stirred to rage.
On the Central Plain they are fighting now, 40 what means will we have to meet again?
In life?
s hundred years our fates are sealed, how can we tell whether we will sink or float?
Yet for the moment I cherish my good friend, 44 clasping his hand as we walk by the roadside.
1 Case Reviewer Wei?
s uncle.
2 ?
Accommodating gentleness?
was a principle of successful governance.
3 In Tonggu.
4 The Qiang were a Tibetan people who inhabited the region.
5 The Cave of the Moon was supposed to be in the far west.
Chinese armies moved through Tonggu westward.
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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 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 20 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 24 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 28 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 32 ? ? ? ? ? ? 5. 9 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 4 ? ? ? ? ? ? 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 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 8 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
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 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 20 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 24 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 28 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 32 ? ? ? ? ? ? 5. 9 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 4 ? ? ? ? ? ? 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 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 8 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
