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lnhammerThough living men, we never see each other
Just like the constellations Shen and Shang.
Tonight we do—when will our next night be?
Together in this flickering lantern light,
We aren’t strong—how many times do we have?
Our temple-hairs already are ash-grey.
I ask about old friends—half are spirits:
A startled sigh amid my warm emotions.
How could I know that it’d be twenty years
Since I last visited your noble hall?
When we two parted you weren’t married yet—
Suddenly you’ve many sons and daughters,
Who joyfully salute their father’s friend,
Asking me, “From where have you arrived?”
Even before our greetings are complete,
You urge your children, “Set out food and wine—
Chop the spring leeks picked in the nightly rain
And cook it fresh along with yellow millet.”
You speak of how it’s difficult to meet,
Then you and I together raise ten toasts.
After ten toasts, although I’m barely drunk,
I feel that we are long-time boon companions,
Yet when the sun departs the mountain peaks,
Our worldly cares will still be vast and boundless.
赠卫八处士
人生不相见，
动如参与商，
今夕复何夕？
共此灯烛光。
少壮能几时？
鬓发各已苍。
访旧半为鬼，
惊呼热中肠。
焉知二十载，
重上君子堂。
昔别君未婚，
儿女忽成行；
怡然敬父执，
问我来何方。
问答乃未已，
驱儿罗酒浆。
夜雨剪春韭，
新炊间黄粱。
主称会面难，
一举累十觞；
十觞亦不醉，
感子故意长。
明日隔山岳，
世事两茫茫。
“Retired” here indicates that Wei is living away from the capital between appointments, rather than that he resigned all offices late in life. Written 759, while Du Fu was traveling without an imperial appointment. The two traditional constellations, which don’t have English equivalents, are on opposite sides of the sky; if I wanted to localize, I could pick Scorpio and Orion, I suppose. Idiom: in l.12 more literally, Wei has children who are ranked, as in having enough they have birth-order use-names (1st Brother, 2nd Brother, and so on).
---L.
Just like the constellations Shen and Shang.
Tonight we do—when will our next night be?
Together in this flickering lantern light,
We aren’t strong—how many times do we have?
Our temple-hairs already are ash-grey.
I ask about old friends—half are spirits:
A startled sigh amid my warm emotions.
How could I know that it’d be twenty years
Since I last visited your noble hall?
When we two parted you weren’t married yet—
Suddenly you’ve many sons and daughters,
Who joyfully salute their father’s friend,
Asking me, “From where have you arrived?”
Even before our greetings are complete,
You urge your children, “Set out food and wine—
Chop the spring leeks picked in the nightly rain
And cook it fresh along with yellow millet.”
You speak of how it’s difficult to meet,
Then you and I together raise ten toasts.
After ten toasts, although I’m barely drunk,
I feel that we are long-time boon companions,
Yet when the sun departs the mountain peaks,
Our worldly cares will still be vast and boundless.
赠卫八处士
人生不相见，
动如参与商，
今夕复何夕？
共此灯烛光。
少壮能几时？
鬓发各已苍。
访旧半为鬼，
惊呼热中肠。
焉知二十载，
重上君子堂。
昔别君未婚，
儿女忽成行；
怡然敬父执，
问我来何方。
问答乃未已，
驱儿罗酒浆。
夜雨剪春韭，
新炊间黄粱。
主称会面难，
一举累十觞；
十觞亦不醉，
感子故意长。
明日隔山岳，
世事两茫茫。
“Retired” here indicates that Wei is living away from the capital between appointments, rather than that he resigned all offices late in life. Written 759, while Du Fu was traveling without an imperial appointment. The two traditional constellations, which don’t have English equivalents, are on opposite sides of the sky; if I wanted to localize, I could pick Scorpio and Orion, I suppose. Idiom: in l.12 more literally, Wei has children who are ranked, as in having enough they have birth-order use-names (1st Brother, 2nd Brother, and so on).
---L.
no subject
Date: 17 January 2025 22:21 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 January 2025 23:18 (UTC)no subject
Date: 18 January 2025 04:25 (UTC)Du Fu would have been in his late 40s in 259, and from 'I ask about old friends—half are spirits', and 'When we two parted you weren’t married yet—
Suddenly you’ve many sons and daughters' it sounds like they were longtime childhood friends? Wei must have stayed in their hometown in all that time Du Fu was out travelling and seeking a future in officialdom.
I got curious and took a look at what was going on in Du Fu's life at the time and... wow...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du_Fu#War
All that happened between the 730s up to the war, getting captured by rebels (???!), defending a friend, demotions... really puts some perspective on 'Just like the constellations Shen and Shang. Tonight we do—when will our next night be?' and the ending lines!
It really is fortunate that they were able to meet. Wei was SO right in proposing ten toasts to that! I can feel how moved Du Fu is by this friendship that has endured so much. (Connecting again with good friends I haven't heard from in just a year is already so uplifting - how intense it must have been for him.) Soon they'll be separated by metaphorical (maybe literal) mountains again, and whatever happens to each other after will be mutually unknown.
Writings like these never fail to make appreciate being just a text away from my loved ones now.
no subject
Date: 18 January 2025 19:22 (UTC)It doesn't sound, from Du Fu's biography, that he was back home in Luoyang during that period. (I did almost note in the notes that he wrote this shortly after failing a couple times to keep office himself.) But 20 years before, he was still living at home, so maybe he did visit. Hadn't thought of that. And yeah, it will be literal mountains -- Du Fu will soon (if he hasn't already) be moving to Gansu and then south to Sichuan.
As for texting, I keep coming back to this one.