I met you often when you were visiting princes
And when you were playing in noblemen's halls.
...Spring passes... Far down the river now,
I find you alone under falling petals.
Original Poem:
「江南逢李龟年」
杜甫
岐王宅里寻常见， 崔九堂前几度闻。
正是江南好风景， 落花时节又逢君。
Interpretation:
In the spring of 770 A.D., Du Fu’s lonely boat drifted to Changsha, Hunan Province, where he met Li Guinian, a famous singer who lived in the area of Jiangxiang, and who was overwhelmed by the vicissitudes of the years and the changes of glory and blight, and had a lot of feelings, thus writing this poem.
The poet recalls his contact with Li Guinian. Dufu was born in an official family, and he was able to go in and out of the mansions of Li Fan, the king of Difeng, and Cui Tie, the secretary-general, to enjoy Li Guinian’s singing when he was a teenager. This is not only a description of Du Fu’s frequent contact with Li Guinian in the mansion of Li Fan and Cui Jutang, but also a hint of the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, with its songs and dances and incessant pianoforte playing.
The last two lines are followed by the time, place and event. The time is March in the late spring, the place is the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan, the event is to meet you again. The language is easy, but the feelings are heavy. Remembering the past, Li Guinian was famous for a while; Du Fu was young and ambitious. But now, after the Anshi Rebellion, Li Guinian living in Jiangnan, along the street drums, singing endless dreams of rise and fall; Du Fu wandering alone, sparse cloth footwear bitter not warm, poor and sad. Therefore, “the time of falling flowers” is both realistic and symbolic, it implies that the two emaciated old man with common encounter, after the war both fell into the unfortunate place, they saw back then, “the flourishing Tang Dynasty has become a historical vestige!
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Du Fu (杜甫), 712 – 770 AD, was a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, known as the “Sage of Poetry”. Born into a declining bureaucratic family, Du Fu had a rough life, and his turbulent and dislocated life made him keenly aware of the plight of the masses. Therefore, his poems were always closely related to the current affairs, reflecting the social life of that era in a more comprehensive way, with profound thoughts and a broad realm. In his poetic art, he was able to combine many styles, forming a unique style of “profound and thick”, and becoming a great realist poet in the history of China.
