Autumn Meditations (2)
Du Fu
Du Fu
秋兴八首 (二)
夔府孤城落日斜
每依南斗望京华
听猿实下三声泪
奉使虚随八月查
画省香炉违伏枕
山楼粉堞隐悲笳
请看石上藤萝月
已映洲前芦荻花
夔府孤城落日斜
每依南斗望京华
听猿实下三声泪
奉使虚随八月查
画省香炉违伏枕
山楼粉堞隐悲笳
请看石上藤萝月
已映洲前芦荻花
qiū xìng bā shǒu (èr)
kuí fǔ gū chéng luò rì xié
měi yī nán dǒu wàng jīng huá
tīng yuán shí xià sān shēng lèi
fèng shǐ xū suí bā yuè chá
huà shěng xiāng lú wéi fú zhěn
shān lóu fěn dié yǐn bēi jiā
qǐng kàn shí shàng téng luó yuè
yǐ yìng zhōu qián lú dí huā
kuí fǔ gū chéng luò rì xié
měi yī nán dǒu wàng jīng huá
tīng yuán shí xià sān shēng lèi
fèng shǐ xū suí bā yuè chá
huà shěng xiāng lú wéi fú zhěn
shān lóu fěn dié yǐn bēi jiā
qǐng kàn shí shàng téng luó yuè
yǐ yìng zhōu qián lú dí huā
Kui prefecture lonely wall set sun slant
Every rely Southern Dipper gaze capital city
Hear ape real fall three sound tear
Sent on mission vain follow eight month raft
Picture ministry incense stove apart hidden pillow
Mountain tower white battlements hide sad reed whistle
Ask look stone on creeper moon
Already reflect islet before rushes reeds flowers
Every rely Southern Dipper gaze capital city
Hear ape real fall three sound tear
Sent on mission vain follow eight month raft
Picture ministry incense stove apart hidden pillow
Mountain tower white battlements hide sad reed whistle
Ask look stone on creeper moon
Already reflect islet before rushes reeds flowers
Over Kuizhou's lonely wall, the setting sun slants,
Every day I follow the Plough to look to the capital city.
I hear an ape; the third call really makes tears fall,
Undertaking a mission, in vain I follow the eighth month raft.
The muralled ministry's incense stove is far from my hidden pillow,
The mountain tower's white battlements hide the sad reed flutes.
Just look at the moonlight on the creepers that cover the stones,
Already in front of the islet, the rushes and reed flowers shine!
Every day I follow the Plough to look to the capital city.
I hear an ape; the third call really makes tears fall,
Undertaking a mission, in vain I follow the eighth month raft.
The muralled ministry's incense stove is far from my hidden pillow,
The mountain tower's white battlements hide the sad reed flutes.
Just look at the moonlight on the creepers that cover the stones,
Already in front of the islet, the rushes and reed flowers shine!
View Chinese text in traditional characters.
Other Chinese poems about Autumn.
Notes: This poem date from 766 (Watson p. 129). The capital city is Chang'an, to the north of the Three Gorges. There was a tradition that travellers in the gorges would weep on hearing an ape cry three times; another story told of a raft which appeared every eighth month and took a man to the river of heaven (the Milky Way) (Owen p. 435).
This poem is volume (juàn) 230, no. 2 in the Complete Tang Poems (quán táng shī). It is translated on pp. 434-5 of Owen and pp. 81-2 of Hinton, and as poem 110 in Watson, pp. 130-1 and poem CCLXXXII in Hung, p. 234.
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.
