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Classical Chinese

188 杜甫 宿府 translation: Lodging at Headquarters, by Dù Fǔ

This is a translation and annotation of the poem 宿府 (Sù Fǔ), “Lodging at Headquarters”, by the Tang dynasty poet 杜甫 (Dù Fǔ). The poem is #188 in the collection 300 Tang Poems.

宿府 Sù Fǔ [lodge] [office] Lodging at Headquarters

清秋幕府井梧寒， qīng qiū mù fǔ jǐng wú hán [clear] [autumn] [camp] [office] [well] [parasol tree] [cold] Clear autumn at the headquarters, the wellside parasol tree cold;

獨宿江城蠟炬殘。 dú sù jiāng chéng là jù cán [alone] [lodge] [river] [city] [wax] [torch] [remnant] alone lodging in the river city, the candle spent.

永夜角聲悲自語， yǒng yè jiǎo shēng bēi zì yǔ [long] [night] [horn] [sound] [sorrowful] [self] [speak] In the long night a horn sounds, sorrowful self-speaking;

中天月色好誰看。 zhōng tiān yuè sè hǎo shuí kàn [middle] [sky] [moon] [colour] [fine] [who] [look] in mid-sky the moonlight fine — who looks?

風塵荏苒音書絕， fēng chén rěn rǎn yīn shū jué [wind] [dust] [gradual] [passing] [voice] [letter] [cease] Wind and dust slip by, news and letters cease; 風塵 is a symbol for turmoil and displacement.

關塞蕭條行路難。 guān sài xiāo tiáo xíng lù nán [mountain pass] [frontier] [desolate] [sparse] [travel] [road] [hard] the passes and frontiers are desolate; travelling the roads is hard. 行路難 is also the title of a series of poems by 李白.

已忍伶俜十年事， yǐ rěn líng pīng shí nián shì [already] [endure] [lonely] [wandering] [ten] [year] [matter] one has endured lonely wandering for these ten years;

強移棲息一枝安。 qiǎng yí qī xī yī zhī ān [forced] [move] [perch] [rest] [one] [branch] [peace] reluctantly moving, perching, resting, on one branch at peace. 棲息 could be a metaphor for living in seclusion.


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