Spring Night in the Left Office
Du Fu
Du Fu
春宿左省
花隱掖垣暮
啾啾棲鳥過
星臨萬戶動
月傍九霄多
不寢聽金鑰
因風想玉珂
明朝有封事
數問夜如何
花隱掖垣暮
啾啾棲鳥過
星臨萬戶動
月傍九霄多
不寢聽金鑰
因風想玉珂
明朝有封事
數問夜如何
chūn sù zuǒ shěng
huā yǐn yè yuán mù
jiū jiū qī niǎo guò
xīng lín wàn hù dòng
yuè bàng jiǔ xiāo duō
bù qǐn tīng jīn yuè
yīn fēng xiǎng yù kē
míng zhāo yǒu fēng shì
shuò wèn yè rú hé
huā yǐn yè yuán mù
jiū jiū qī niǎo guò
xīng lín wàn hù dòng
yuè bàng jiǔ xiāo duō
bù qǐn tīng jīn yuè
yīn fēng xiǎng yù kē
míng zhāo yǒu fēng shì
shuò wèn yè rú hé
Flowers hide palace wall dusk
Chirp chirp perch bird go
Star overlook 10,000 door move
Moon near nine heavens more
Not rest hear gold key
Because wind feel jade bridle pendant
Tomorrow morning have letter business
Count ask night like what
Chirp chirp perch bird go
Star overlook 10,000 door move
Moon near nine heavens more
Not rest hear gold key
Because wind feel jade bridle pendant
Tomorrow morning have letter business
Count ask night like what
Flowers in shadow, palace wall at dusk,
Chirping birds are flying back to roost.
Stars move above the ten thousand doors;
The moon is big nearing the nine heavens.
Not sleeping, I hear a golden key;
In the wind, I think there are jade pendants.
Tomorrow morning, I have to present a memorial,
Again and again, I ask about the night.
Chirping birds are flying back to roost.
Stars move above the ten thousand doors;
The moon is big nearing the nine heavens.
Not sleeping, I hear a golden key;
In the wind, I think there are jade pendants.
Tomorrow morning, I have to present a memorial,
Again and again, I ask about the night.
View Chinese text in simplified characters.
Other Chinese poems about Spring.
Notes: This poem dates from 758 (Hawkes p. 57). The Left Office was the Imperial Chancellery, in which Du Fu held the office of Remembrancer or Reminder (Hawkes p. 57). The jade pendants are on the bridles of horses which he imagines coming and going (Hawkes p. 59).
This poem is volume (juàn) 225, no. 22 in the Complete Tang Poems (quán táng shī). It is translated as poem 8 in Hawkes, pp. 56-9, poem XCV in Hung, p. 125, and poem 34 in Watson, p. 44.
Hawkes, D. (1967) A Little Primer of Tu Fu. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
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.
