Far off in Fu-chou she is watching the moonlight,
Watching it alone from the window of her chamber -
For our boy and girl, poor little babes,
Are too young to know where the Capital is.
Her cloudy hair is sweet with mist,
Her jade-white shoulder is cold in the moon.
...When shall we lie again, with no more tears,
Watching this bright light on our screen?
Original Poem:
「月夜」
杜甫
今夜鄜州月，闺中只独。
遥怜小儿女，未解忆长安。
香雾云鬟湿，清辉玉臂寒。
何时倚虚幌，双照泪痕干？
Interpretation:
This poem was written in the fall of 756 AD. In August of this year, Du Fu was captured in the fallen Chang'an, his family was in Qiang village in Shanshan, although not imprisoned, but his freedom had been lost, and his life and death were uncertain, so he was homesick for his family, and he wrote this poem with sincere feelings.
The first line: Tonight, the full moon over Shanshu, only you in the boudoir alone to see.
The poet does not directly write about his own moonlit night thinking of relatives, but from the opposite side to write his own worry about his wife's anxiety.
The second line: far away from the other side of the pity for the young children, do not understand why you miss Chang'an?
The young children are not familiar with the world and do not understand their mother's longing for their father who has fallen to Chang'an!
The third couplet: The mist has dampened your sideburns; the cold moonlight has chilled your jade arms.
Write the wife to look at the moon alone for a long time, to further show her “memory of Chang'an” feelings of longing. The night is deep, the fog is thick, the wife's hair is soaked by the fog, the cold moonlight to her arm cold, she is still independent of the courtyard, thinking of her husband does not know the life and death of the moon cold tears, this is how bleak the scene ah!
The last line: when can we be together to lean together by the light-permeable curtains or draperies, so that the moonlight can dry the tears of longing of the two.
The poet's longing for a future reunion. That is to say, when can we lean together in front of the window curtains, so that the moonlight will dry the tears of the two together with the sadness! Expresses the poet's strong desire for reunion, and condemns and resents the separation of family members caused by war!
The poet through the thoughts of the family, husband and wife love description, sang a melancholy and full of human love of the song of Wanqu.
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.
