Du Mu English Translations
Click on the title of each poem for the text in Chinese characters, pinyin and literal translation.
Drinking Alone
Du Mu
Outside the window, wind and snow blow straight,
I clutch the stove and open a flask of wine.
Just like a fishing boat in the rain,
Sail down, asleep on the autumn river.
Drunken Sleep
Du Mu
The beer's brewed well amid the autumn rain,
The cold house sits amid the falling leaves.
The hermit spends a lot of time asleep,
He pours and drains another cup of beer.
Entering Shangshan
Du Mu
I enter Shangshan early, under a hundred miles of cloud,
Beneath the bridge a blue stream, the sound of the water divided.
The flowing water's old sound reaches the ears of the old,
This time I cannot bear to listen to its call.
Ji'an Prefecture: An Occasional Poem
Du Mu
Two poles of bamboo in the setting sun on the bridge over the stream,
Half a thread of light mist among the reflected willows.
How many green lotuses hatefully supporting each other,
Instantly I turn my head, my back to the western wind.
Mountain Travel
Du Mu
Far away on the cold mountain, a stone path slants upwards,
In the white clouds is a village, where people have their homes.
I stop the carriage, loving the maple wood in the evening,
The frosted leaves are redder than the second month's flowers.
On Parting
Du Mu
Much feeling- but it's just as if there's none,
I think behind my cup, but cannot smile.
The candle has a heart- it too hates parting,
In our place, it sheds a tear at dawn.
Pure Brightness Festival
Du Mu
At the time of the Pure Brightness festival, the rain is swirling round,
On the road, the spirit of the traveler is almost broken.
He politely asks at what place an inn can be found?
A shepherd boy points far away to apricot blossom village.
Sent to Assistant Magistrate Han Chuo of Yangzhou
Du Mu
Green hills are indistinct, water stretches far,
The end of autumn south of the river- grass and trees are withered.
Twenty-four bridges under the bright moon tonight,
Where are the beautiful people blowing flutes of welcome?
Spring South of the River
Du Mu
Orioles call for a thousand li, green's reflected in the river;
Waterside village; hillside rampart; wine; a banner in the wind.
In the time of the southern dynasties, there were four hundred and eighty temples;
How many pavilions there are now in the mist and rain.
