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Classical Chinese

杜甫 登樓 translation: Ascending a Pavilion, by Du Fu

This is a very rough annotation / translation of the poem 登樓 (Dēng Lóu), ‘Ascending a Pavilion’, by the Tang Dynasty Chinese poet 杜甫 (Dù Fǔ).

If you have any suggestions, please share them in the comments at the end of the page.

Flowering Quince

登樓 Dēng Lóu [ascend] [pavilion] Ascending a Pavilion

花近高樓傷客心, Huā jìn gāo lóu shāng kè xīn, [flower] [close] [high] [pavilion] [hurt] [guest] [heart] The flowers seem close from the high pavilion, wounding this traveller's heart;

萬方多難此登臨。 wàn fāng duō nán cǐ dēnglín. [ten thousand] [places] [many] [hard] [this] [ascend] [overlook] In ten thousand places there is much suffering; one climbs for a view.

錦江春色來天地, Jǐnjiāng chūnsè lái tiāndì, [Jin] [Jiang] [spring] [colour] [come] [heaven] [earth] In Jinjiang the colours of spring come between heaven and earth;

玉壘浮雲變古今。 Yùlěi fúyún biàn gǔjīn. [jade] [rampart] [floating] [cloud] [change] [old] [today] Over Mt. Yulei, the floating clouds - ever changing from ancient times to today.

北極朝庭終不改, Běijí cháo tíng zhōng bù gǎi, [north] [pole] [royal court] [hall] [in the end] [not] [change] A pole star, the imperial court - it shall never be changed;

西山寇盜莫相侵。 xī shān kòu dào mò xiāng qīn. [west] [mountain] [bandit] [thief] [do not] [it] [invade] from the western mountains, bandits and thieves - do not invade.

可憐後主還祠廟, Kělián hòu zhǔ huán cí miào, [can] [pity] [after] [master] [return] [ancestral hall] [shrine] The pitiful last master returns to his ancestral shrine;

日暮聊為梁甫吟。 rìmù liáo wèi Liángfǔ yín. [sun] [sunset] [just] [as] [Liang] [Fu] [hum] In the sunset, just humming _Liangfu_.

If you have any suggestions, please share them in the comments below.


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