Du Fu / Tu Fu
“Thoughts while Traveling at Night”
Light breeze on the fine grass.
I stand alone at the mast.
Stars lean on the vast wild plain.
Moon bobs in the Great River’s spate.
Letters have brought no fame.
Office? Too old to obtain.
Drifting, what am I like?
A gull between earth and sky.
Translated by Vikram Seth.
“I Stand Alone”
A single bird of prey beyond the sky,
a pair of white gulls between riverbanks.
Hovering wind-tossed, ready to strike;
the pair, at their ease, roaming to and fro.
And the dew is also full on the grasses,
spiders’ filaments still not drawn in.
Instigations in nature approach men’s affairs–
I stand alone in thousands of sources of worry.
Translated by Stephen Owen
“On the River”
On the river, every day these heavy rains—
bleak, bleak, autumn in Ching-ch’u
High winds strip the leaves from the trees;
through the long night I hug my fur robe.
I recall my official record, keep looking in the mirror,
recall my comings and goings, leaning alone in an upper room.
In these perilous times I long to serve my sovereign—
old and feeble as I am, I can’t stop thinking of it!
Translated by Paul Rouzer
Resources for Du Fu
- Columbia U, Asia for Educators: video on Du Fu (browse other videos on Du Fu in menu on the left)
- Cultural China, author page Du Fu, includes bio and link to selection of poems
- Chinese Poems, includes links to selection of poems.
General Resources Tang Poetry
- Columbia U, Asia for Educators: resource page with many links to videos, handouts, etc on Tang Dynasty and Poetry
- Columbia U, links to many videos on Chinese and Japanese culture and history, including an intro to Tang Poetry
- Columbia U, handout on the Chinese Scholar-Official
- Cultural China, site with lots of info on all aspects of Chinese culture. Browse the history and literature sections for more on the Tang Dynasty and poets.
- Encyclopedia Brittanica’s page on China (see sections on history, arts, Tang dynasty, and Tang Poetry).
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