Moonlit Night
Du Fu
Du Fu
月夜
今夜鄜州月
閨中衹獨看
遙憐小兒女
未解憶長安
香霧雲鬟濕
清輝玉臂寒
何時倚虛幌
雙照淚痕乾
今夜鄜州月
閨中衹獨看
遙憐小兒女
未解憶長安
香霧雲鬟濕
清輝玉臂寒
何時倚虛幌
雙照淚痕乾
yuè yè
jīn yè fū zhōu yuè
guī zhōng zhǐ dú kān
yáo lián xiǎo ér nǚ
wèi jiě yì cháng ān
xiāng wù yún huán shī
qīng huī yù bì hán
hé shí yǐ xū huǎng
shuāng zhào lèi hén gān
jīn yè fū zhōu yuè
guī zhōng zhǐ dú kān
yáo lián xiǎo ér nǚ
wèi jiě yì cháng ān
xiāng wù yún huán shī
qīng huī yù bì hán
hé shí yǐ xū huǎng
shuāng zhào lèi hén gān
This night Fuzhou moon
Woman's chamber in only alone watch
Far pity little boy girl
Not understand remember Chang'an
Fragrant mist cloud dressed hair wet
Clear brightness jade arm cold
What time lean on empty curtain
Pair shine tears trace dry
Woman's chamber in only alone watch
Far pity little boy girl
Not understand remember Chang'an
Fragrant mist cloud dressed hair wet
Clear brightness jade arm cold
What time lean on empty curtain
Pair shine tears trace dry
The moon shines in Fuzhou tonight,
In her chamber, she watches alone.
I pity my distant boy and girl-
They don't know why she thinks of Chang'an.
Her cloud-like hair is sweet with mist,
Her jade arms cold in the clear moonlight.
When shall we lean in the empty window,
Together in brightness, and tears dried up?
In her chamber, she watches alone.
I pity my distant boy and girl-
They don't know why she thinks of Chang'an.
Her cloud-like hair is sweet with mist,
Her jade arms cold in the clear moonlight.
When shall we lean in the empty window,
Together in brightness, and tears dried up?
View Chinese text in simplified characters.
Other Chinese poems about Separation.
Notes: This poem dates from 756; Hawkes suggests that it was written at the time of the Mid-Autumn festival, when families traditionally watched the moon together (Hawkes p. 30). Du Fu had left his family in Fuzhou, north of Chang'an, while he himself was held captive in the city by the rebels (Hawkes p. 30). Hawkes takes guī zhōng as a metonym for wife, but the later reference to the window may justify (with Watson) a more literal translation.
This poem is volume (juàn) 224, no. 66 in the Complete Tang Poems (quán táng shī). It is translated as poem 4 in Hawkes, pp. 28-32, poem 20 in Watson, p. 28, and poem LXIII in Hung, p.101, and on p. 25 of Hinton.
Hawkes, D. (1967) A Little Primer of Tu Fu. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
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.
Watson, B. (2002) The Selected Poems of Du Fu. New York, Columbia University Press.
