Night in the Pavilion
Du Fu
Du Fu
閣 夜
歲暮陰陽催短景
天涯霜雪霽寒宵
五更鼓角聲悲壯
三峽星河影動搖
野哭幾家聞戰伐
夷歌數處起漁樵
臥龍躍馬終黃土
人事音書漫寂寥
歲暮陰陽催短景
天涯霜雪霽寒宵
五更鼓角聲悲壯
三峽星河影動搖
野哭幾家聞戰伐
夷歌數處起漁樵
臥龍躍馬終黃土
人事音書漫寂寥
Gé Yè
Suì mù yīn yáng cuī duǎn jǐng
Tiān yá shuāng xuě jì hán xiāo
Wǔ gēng gǔ jué shēng bēi zhuàng
Sān xiá xīng hé yǐng dòng yáo
Yě kū qiān jiā wén zhàn fá
Yí gē jǐ chù qǐ yú qiáo
Wò lóng yuè mǎ zhōng huáng tǔ
Rén shì yīn shū màn jì liáo
Suì mù yīn yáng cuī duǎn jǐng
Tiān yá shuāng xuě jì hán xiāo
Wǔ gēng gǔ jué shēng bēi zhuàng
Sān xiá xīng hé yǐng dòng yáo
Yě kū qiān jiā wén zhàn fá
Yí gē jǐ chù qǐ yú qiáo
Wò lóng yuè mǎ zhōng huáng tǔ
Rén shì yīn shū màn jì liáo
Year dusk yin yang hurry short light
Heaven end frost snow clear cold night
Fifth watch drum horn sound mournful mighty
Third gorge star river shadow move tremor
Country cry thousand homes hear fighting
Foreign songs several places rise fisher woodcutter
Sleeping dragon leaping horse end yellow earth
Human affairs hear letter in vain melancholy
Heaven end frost snow clear cold night
Fifth watch drum horn sound mournful mighty
Third gorge star river shadow move tremor
Country cry thousand homes hear fighting
Foreign songs several places rise fisher woodcutter
Sleeping dragon leaping horse end yellow earth
Human affairs hear letter in vain melancholy
At year's end, yin and yang hurry the shortened day,
At sky's end, frost and snow clear the frozen night.
Fifth watch: the drum and horn sound out mournful and strong,
Three gorges: the river of stars casts its trembling shadow.
Countryside cries from a thousand homes hearing news of the fighting,
Barbaric songs here and there rise from fishers and woodsmen.
Sleeping Dragon and Leaping Horse both ended in yellow dirt;
Waiting for news of worldly affairs brings me useless grief.
At sky's end, frost and snow clear the frozen night.
Fifth watch: the drum and horn sound out mournful and strong,
Three gorges: the river of stars casts its trembling shadow.
Countryside cries from a thousand homes hearing news of the fighting,
Barbaric songs here and there rise from fishers and woodsmen.
Sleeping Dragon and Leaping Horse both ended in yellow dirt;
Waiting for news of worldly affairs brings me useless grief.
View Chinese text in simplified characters.
Notes: The poem dates from 766 (Watson p. 147). The pavilion was an official residence used by Du Fu in Kuizhou. The fifth watch was in the early morning, just before dawn. The river of stars is the Milky Way. Sleeping Dragon was Zhuge Liang a hero of Du Fu's from the Three Kingdoms period; Leaping Horse was Gongsun Shu, the "White Emperor" ("Baidi") from which Kuizhou took its alternative name of Baidicheng (all notes Hawkes p. 182-3).
This poem is volume (juàn) 229, no. 40 in the Complete Tang Poems (quán táng shī). It is translated as poem 29 in Hawkes, pp. 181-4, and poem 147 in Watson, p. 147.
Hawkes, D. (1967) A Little Primer of Tu Fu. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Watson, B. (2002) The Selected Poems of Du Fu. New York, Columbia University Press.
Notes: The poem dates from 766 (Watson p. 147). The pavilion was an official residence used by Du Fu in Kuizhou. The fifth watch was in the early morning, just before dawn. The river of stars is the Milky Way. Sleeping Dragon was Zhuge Liang a hero of Du Fu's from the Three Kingdoms period; Leaping Horse was Gongsun Shu, the "White Emperor" ("Baidi") from which Kuizhou took its alternative name of Baidicheng (all notes Hawkes p. 182-3).
This poem is volume (juàn) 229, no. 40 in the Complete Tang Poems (quán táng shī). It is translated as poem 29 in Hawkes, pp. 181-4, and poem 147 in Watson, p. 147.
Hawkes, D. (1967) A Little Primer of Tu Fu. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Watson, B. (2002) The Selected Poems of Du Fu. New York, Columbia University Press.