Another spring in boat I stay;
Again swallows peck clods of clay.
You know me in my native land;
Now gazing from afar you stand.
Ah, here and there you build your nest;
Now and again I find no rest.
You greet me and then leave the mast;
My tears stream down to see you past.
Original Poem:
「燕子来舟中作」
杜甫
湖南为客动经春，燕子衔泥两度新。
旧入故园尝识主，如今社日远看人。
可怜处处巢居室，何异飘飘托此身。
暂语船樯还起去，穿花贴水益沾巾。
Interpretation:
In 768 AD Du Fu left Kui Zhou and drifted around Hunan for a year, then failed to join his friends and had to use a boat as his home, and was still drifting on the Xiangjiang River near Changsha until the spring of three years later, and this poem was written at this time.
This poem was written at this time. The first two lines: I drifted to Hunan as a guest, and a whole spring has passed, and the swallows are now building their nests in the mud here for the second time.
The poet does not feel that the second spring has come. Swallows are often seen as a symbol of spring, as they are born in spring and live in their nests, and their chirping and fluttering reminds people of the joy of living in peace and relaxation. When the poet sees the swallows at the moment of wandering and uncertainty, of course, he will have the feeling of meeting his old friends in his hometown.
The third and the fourth lines: In the past, you used to know me as your master in my old garden, but now you look at me as a stranger from afar on the day of the Spring Festival.
In the poet's mind, this swallow is regarded as the swallow that lived in the same room in the hometown in the past years, and it still remembers its master, and it is not happy to meet him in the boat from afar. The swallow's sympathy and doubt for the poet are written here, and the poet's infinite feelings are also revealed. In this place of smoke and water, the future is uncertain, the poet has no one to rely on, the only swallow to meet, doubly feel the bleakness of the world.
The fifth and sixth lines: I pity you for building a nest for your home everywhere, but there is no place to settle down, no different from my drifting and trusting in the rivers and lakes.
Swallows build nests in people's homes because they drift around, so it's pitiful, and the poet's ten years of this kind of parasitic life is really no different from the swallows. Now there is no one to rely on, no place to live, calling for sighs.
The last two lines: the mast for the time being with me to talk, or to fly up and go, through the flowers and water to fly, I can not help but tears more and more wet scarf.
The sympathetic swallow seems to understand the poet's meaning and expresses sympathy to the poet, but it immediately realizes that this is a drifting boat, not a “living room” where it should choose to build a nest, and it suddenly becomes indifferent again, and then gets up and flies away. However, it seems to be unable to give up the master of déjà vu, flying low against the water, circling around the boat, emotionless and seemingly sentimental, lovely and annoying, finally turned through the flowers and passed away, leaving the poet with emptiness, despair and loneliness, the poet could not help but feel the tears of old age.
This is the poet's last poem, can be regarded as the poet's dying wail. In this poem, the deep and sincere humanity is expressed through the image of the light swallow, which is simple, affectionate and touching.
Poem translator:
Xu Yuan-chong (许渊冲)
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.
