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Thin grass, a faint wind on the bank.
High mast, alone on the boat at night.
The stars descend to flat fields wide,
The moon’s in the bubbling river flow.
How can one make a name with writing?
Officials should rest when old and ill.
What does floating about resemble?
A single gull ’tween earth and sky.
旅夜书怀
细草微风岸，
危樯独夜舟。
星垂平野阔，
月涌大江流。
名岂文章著，
官应老病休。
飘飘何所似，
天地一沙鸥。
Written c.765 while traveling down the Yangzi, looking for a place to settle where he could support his family after the death of his patron Duke Yan (see #111), all while dealing with multiple chronic ailments. More literally, he wonders about making a reputation with “written works.” At which point, it’s time to insert the obligatory comparison to his friend Li Bai, the other greatest Tang poet, whose songs and poems were popular all his life, unlike Du Fu, who wasn’t appreciated till a few centuries after his death. Lost in translation: the river is “great” —IOW is explicitly the Yangzi.
---L.
High mast, alone on the boat at night.
The stars descend to flat fields wide,
The moon’s in the bubbling river flow.
How can one make a name with writing?
Officials should rest when old and ill.
What does floating about resemble?
A single gull ’tween earth and sky.
旅夜书怀
细草微风岸，
危樯独夜舟。
星垂平野阔，
月涌大江流。
名岂文章著，
官应老病休。
飘飘何所似，
天地一沙鸥。
Written c.765 while traveling down the Yangzi, looking for a place to settle where he could support his family after the death of his patron Duke Yan (see #111), all while dealing with multiple chronic ailments. More literally, he wonders about making a reputation with “written works.” At which point, it’s time to insert the obligatory comparison to his friend Li Bai, the other greatest Tang poet, whose songs and poems were popular all his life, unlike Du Fu, who wasn’t appreciated till a few centuries after his death. Lost in translation: the river is “great” —IOW is explicitly the Yangzi.
---L.