秋興八首(其四) 杜甫

秋興八首(其四)       杜甫  (712-770)

聞道長安似弈棋，百年世事不勝悲。
王侯第宅皆新主，文武衣冠異昔時。
直北關山金鼓振，征西車馬羽書馳。
魚龍寂寞秋江冷，故國平居有所思。

An Octet of Autumnal Melancholy (Poem No. 4)       

Du Fu (712-770)

People say situations in Chang’an are like a chess game still in play,

A hundred years of tumultuous unrest plunges it into the abyss of endless bales,
Palatial houses are now all owned by new people who have recently been highly hailed,
Established laws and codes have all been erased,
By powerful and scheming eunuchs all righteous and capable people are driven away,
When the Uyghurs invaded, warring drums and bugles from the borders pervaded,
West-bound military horses passing warring information fleeted and raced,
Now the country is broken with mountains and rivers sank destitutely desolate,
Decrepit and ailing, these humiliations keep gnawing me excruciated all these days.