A light wind is rippling at the grassy shore...
Through the night, to my motionless tall mast,
The stars lean down from open space,
And the moon comes running up the river.
...If only my art might bring me fame
And free my sick old age from office! --
Flitting, flitting, what am I like
But a sand-snipe in the wide, wide world!
Original Poem:
「旅夜书怀」
杜甫
细草微风岸， 危樯独夜舟。
星垂平野阔， 月涌大江流。
名岂文章著， 官应老病休。
飘飘何所似， 天地一沙鸥。
Interpretation:
In May, 765 A.D., Du Fu left Chengdu with his family, passing through a number of places and arriving at Yunyang in September for a temporary stay. This poem was written during the poet's journey by boat through the area of Zhongzhou.
In the first line, the breeze is blowing the grass along the riverbank, and the boat with a tall mast is moored alone in the night.
Write about the scenery seen in the middle of the big river. In the daytime, the banks of the river, fine grass and breeze; at night, the boat masts are high, the lonely boat moored at night.
The stars hang low in the vast sky, and the moon is reflected in the river, moving with the waves.
The scene is written from the shore and the river. Looking at the land, the stars are brilliant, the wilderness is vast and endless; looking down at the river, the current is unceasing, the waves are rippling, and the moon seems to be out in the river.
Neckline: Am I famous because of my writings? I am old and sick and I should take a leave of absence from the government.
Saying that he is well known in the world is not because the article is good? The poet has always had great political aspirations, due to repression for a long time can not be carried out, and the reputation of the competition because of the text, this is the poet has no choice.
The last couplet: what is it like to be wandering around? Like a lonely gull in the world.
What does it mean to say that one's wandering life is like? It is like a wandering water bird between heaven and earth. The poem is a self-referential scene to write his own feelings of wandering and helplessness!
This poem is born from the scene, the scene is sent by the feelings, the scene is blended, all in one, expresses his feeling of depression and loneliness due to the lack of ambition.
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.
