Jueju, No. 2 of 2 (The River's Blue, The Bird a Perfect White)
Du Fu
Du Fu
江碧鸟逾白
山青花欲燃
今春看又过
何日是归年
山青花欲燃
今春看又过
何日是归年
jiāng bì niǎo yú bái
shān qīng huā yù rán
jīn chūn kàn yòu guò
hé rì shì guī nián
shān qīng huā yù rán
jīn chūn kàn yòu guò
hé rì shì guī nián
River blue bird exceed white
Hill green flower about to ignite
This spring see again have
What day be return year
Hill green flower about to ignite
This spring see again have
What day be return year
The river's blue, the bird a perfect white,
The mountain green with flowers about to blaze.
I've watched the spring pass away again,
When will I be able to return?
The mountain green with flowers about to blaze.
I've watched the spring pass away again,
When will I be able to return?
View Chinese text in traditional characters.
Note: This poem probably dates from around 764 (Watson p. 111).
Other Chinese poems about Separation, Nature and Spring.
This poem is volume (juàn) 228, no. 21 in the Complete Tang Poems (quán táng shī). It is translated on p. 439 of Owen, and p. 86 of Hinton, and as poem 94 in Watson, p. 112, and poem CCCVII in Hung, p. 244.
Hinton, D. (1990) The Selected Poems of Tu Fu. London, Anvil Press Poetry.
Hung, W. (1952) Tu Fu: China's Greatest Poet. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press.
Owen, S. (1996) An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911. New York/London, W. W. Norton.
Watson, B. (2002) The Selected Poems of Du Fu. New York, Columbia University Press.
