Together we officials climbed vermilion steps,
To be parted by the purple walls...
Our procession, which entered the palace at dawn,
Leaves fragrant now at dusk with imperial incense.
...Grey heads may grieve for a fallen flower,
Or blue clouds envy a lilting bird;
But this reign is of heaven, nothing goes wrong,
There have been almost no petitions.
Original Poem:
「寄左省杜拾遗」
岑参
联步趋丹陛， 分曹限紫微。
晓随天仗入， 暮惹御香归。
白发悲花落， 青云羡鸟飞。
圣朝无阙事， 自觉谏书稀。
Interpretation:
In 757 A.D., the poet became an official on the recommendation of Du Fu. At that time, Du Fu was the left picker, belonging to the province under the gate, and Cen was the right supplanter, belonging to the province under the central book. The two men were both colleagues and friends, and this poem is their mutual chorus. Although they are both court officials, they are both boring and idle positions following the emperor and correcting his minor mistakes, and the poet is sympathetic to the boredom and depression of official life.
The whole poem opens with a lot of gorgeous rhetoric. On the surface, the poet is very satisfied with the reality of his own and Du Fu’s life, but on a closer reading, the extreme emptiness and boredom of the court life is revealed behind the gorgeous background. At the same time, the poet also indirectly implied through the boring life of the people who accompanied the emperor that the emperor did not ask for business, stayed in the palace dogs and horses of the desolation. The poet finally could not suppress his inner resentment and expressed his boredom with the boring life of the court and his envy of the free life.
The end of the poem is also very intriguing, the poet here is a rhetorical statement, in fact, to express the emperor’s poor advice is not good feelings of sadness and despair.
The poem is colorful and elegant, with twisted language and obscure writing style, which is simple and easy to see the backbone of the poem. The poet expresses his resentment and dissatisfaction in a subtle and measured way.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Cen Shen(岑参), 715-770 AD, was a native of Jingzhou, Hubei Province. He studied at Mt. Songshan when he was young, and later traveled to Beijing, Luoyang and Shuohe. Cen Shen was famous for his border poems, in which he wrote about the border scenery and the life of generals in a majestic and unrestrained manner, and together with Gao Shi, he was an outstanding representative of the border poetry school of the Sheng Tang Dynasty.
