A Du Fu! Didn't know this one was in TS300... I wonder if Eighth is also Wei's birth order in the Wei Family? The annotations in my book mention that a 处士 is someone who has chosen reclusion rather than serve as an official (neutral-positive).
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
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.