Du Fu

Through flocks of mountains, myriad valleys,
I arrive in Jingmen,
where Ming-fei was born and bred--*
the village is still there.

Alone, the wild goose refuses food and drink,
his calls searching for the flock.
Who feels compassion for that single shadowvanishing in a thousand distant clouds?
You watch, even as it flies from sight

Zhu-ge's great name
hangs over the whole world;
the revered statesman's portrait
awes with its sublimity.

Oxen and sheep were brought back
Long ago, and bramble gates closed.
Mountains and rivers, far from my old garden,
A windswept moon rises into clear night.

Often a man's life is suchthat he seldom sees his friends,
like the constellations Shen and Shangwhich never share the same sky.
If not this evening, then what eveningshould we share this lamp light?
How long can our youth and vigor…

Your achievements overshadowed
any in the Three Kingdoms;
most famous of all was your design
for the Eight Formations.

Jade frost bites the maple treesand Wu Mountain and Wu Gorge breathe out dark fearas river waves rise up to the skyand dark wind-clouds touch ground by a frontier fortress.
The chrysanthemums have twice bloomed tears of other days,
When…

Clear autumn at headquarters,
wu-tung trees cold beside the well;
I spend the night alone in the river city,
using up all of the candles.

On the nineteenth day of the tenth month of the second year of Ta-li (15 November 767), in the residence of Yuan Ch`ih,
Lieutenant-Governor of K`uei-chou,
I saw Li Shih-er-niang of Lin-ying dance the chien-ch`i.
Impressed by the…

I often saw you at the palace of the prince,
And twice at Cui’s I heard you sing for hours.
This southern scenery seems colorful indeed,
When you are here among the fallen flowers.

Sharp wind, towering sky, apes howling mournfully;
untouched island, white sand, birds flying in circles.
Infinite forest, bleakly shedding leaf after leaf;
inexhaustible river, rolling on wave after wave.

Above the tower — a lone, twice-sized moon.
On the cold river passing night-filled homes,
It scatters restless gold across the waves.
On mats, it shines richer than silken gauze.

A slight rain comes, bathed in dawn light.
I hear it among treetop leaves before
Arrives.
Soon it sprinkles the soil and

As bamboo chill drifts into the bedroom,
Moonlight fills every corner of
Garden.
Heavy dew beads and trickles.

We have come far together, but here we must part;
the green hills vainly echo my feelings.
When will we again take wine cups in handto stroll as we did beneath last night's moon?
Every district sings sad songs at your…