羌村三首(其三) 杜甫

羌村三首(其三)    杜甫(712-770)

羣雞正亂叫，客至雞鬥爭。

驅雞上樹木，始聞叩柴荊。
父老四五人，問我久遠行。
手中各有攜，傾榼濁復清。
莫辭酒味薄，黍地無人耕。
兵戈既未息，兒童盡東征。
請爲父老歌：艱難愧深情！
歌罷仰天嘆，四座淚縱橫。

A Triplet on Qiang Village (My Home Village) (Poem No.3)   

Du Fu (712-770)

Chickens squawked upon my guests’ arrival,

Up the trees I drove them go,

Erelong some people knocked at my wicker stile,

Here came four to five village elders asking about my journey through the thousands of miles,

They all brought some wine to bestow,

Pouring into the cup some were clear while some were muddled,

They kept apologizing please don’t mind the wine tastes thin and unpalatable,

Due to the unrest the fields were no longer tilled,

To recover the lost land in the east even youngsters were sent to the expeditionary battles.

Do let me sing you a rondeau,

In such tumultuous times, I still worry you all to have me consoled,

I feel deeply shameful,

Hence to the heavens ruefully I bewail,

All elders present couldn’t help their tears pour.

羌村三首(其二) 杜甫

羌村三首(其二)    杜甫(712-770)

晚歲迫偷生，還家少歡趣。
嬌兒不離膝，畏我復卻去。
憶昔好追涼，故繞池邊樹。
蕭蕭北風勁，撫事煎百慮。
賴知禾黍收，已覺糟床注。
如今足斟酌，且用慰遲暮。

A Triplet on Qiang Village (My Home Village) (Poem No.2)   

Du Fu (712-770)

Being over a barrel, in my late years an ignominious life I have no choice but to swallow,

Even back home I’ve little gratification and cheers to avail,

Sticking round me my children always loll,

Fearing I’d again bid them adieu,

In the past I used to relish the cool,

So round the lakeside trees I always stroll,

Raging bitterly is the northern squall,

On situations of the country in habdab I mull,

But fortunately this year’s crops have a bumper yield,

From my own brewery I can see my brew flow,

As long as I have wine to quell my dismals,

At least in my late years I have some means to console.

羌村三首(其一) 杜甫

羌村三首(其一)    杜甫 (712-770)

崢嶸赤雲西，日腳下平地。
柴門鳥雀噪，歸客千里至。
妻孥怪我在，驚定還拭淚。
世亂遭飄蕩，生還偶然遂。
鄰人滿牆頭，感嘆亦歔欷。
夜闌更秉燭，相對如夢寐。

A Triplet on Qiang Village (My Home Village) (Poem No.1)    

Du Fu (712-770)

Red cloudscape on the west heaped up like monticules,

The sanguine setting sun disappeared under the horizontal,

Birds over my wicker door incessantly warbled,

Through thousands of miles I have finally arrived at my home household,

My sudden appearance to my wife and children came like a bolt,

Coming around they couldn’t stop their tears flow,

I’ve been drifting in these times of turmoil,

It’s purely fortuitous luck that I could still maintain my survival,

My neighbours crowded all over my house walls and incessantly bewailed,

Deep in the night my wife and I gazed at each other under the candle,

Suspecting this was only a dream cameo.

飲中八仙歌 杜甫

飲中八仙歌     杜甫 (712-770)

知章騎馬似乘船，眼花落井水底眠。
汝陽三斗始朝天，道逢麴車口流涎，
恨不移封向酒泉。左相日興費萬錢，
飲如長鯨吸百川，銜杯樂聖稱避賢。
宗之瀟灑美少年，舉觴白眼望青天，
皎如玉樹臨風前。蘇晉長齋繡佛前，
醉中往往愛逃禪。李白一斗詩百篇，
長安市上酒家眠，天子呼來不上船，
自稱臣是酒中仙。張旭三杯草聖傳，
脫帽露頂王公前，揮毫落紙如雲煙。
焦遂五斗方卓然，高談雄辯驚四筵。  

An Eulogy to the Eight Exalted Drinkers
of Our Times                 Du Fu (712-770)

The drunken He Zhizhang rides on a horse like going on a rocking boat,

With dazzling drowsy eyes he falls and snoozes in a well,
The Prince of Ruyang has three dous of wine guzzled before he attends an audience with His Lord Imperial,
On his way when he comes across wine carts he still drools without control,
How much he wishes instead to Wine Spring he had been enfeoffed,
The Left Chancellor spends ten thousand coin pieces to throw a booze,
He guzzles like a hundred rivers being sipped up by a whale,
He only loves clear wine but loathes wine muddled,
Cui Zongzhi is a adorable handsome young liberal,
When he drinks he raises his cup of wine and gazes at the heavens with eyes rolled like a gracious tree struts amidst the whiffles,
Su Jin sticks to his vegetarian abstention before the Buddha to keep his faith of awe,
When he is drunk he escapes from the mental state of Zen to take a hiatus from religious Buddhistic leal,
Li Bai takes a dou of wine to concoct a hundred pieces of epodes,
He usually falls into slumber in Chang’an bistros,
Even if the Emperor has him summoned he would not immediately hit the road,
Just hailing himself as the Drinker Immortal,
After taking three cups Zhang Xu will produce his calligraphy insurmountable,
He will show off his bald head in front of all the exalted and powerful,
Just letting his unbridled cursive calligraphy freely flow like clouds,
Only after taking five dous of wine has Jiao Sui had his fill,
He would enter into polemics so convincingly with people around and take everybody aghast by showing he is as brilliant as capable.

 

浣溪沙 張元幹

浣溪沙        張元幹(1091 -1170)

山繞平湖波撼城，湖光倒影浸山青。
水晶樓下欲三更。
霧柳暗時雲度月，露荷翻處水流螢。
蕭蕭散髮到天明。

Huan Xi Sha                   Zhang Yuangan(1091 -1170)

The peaceful waters of the lake lie within the encircling monticules,

The oscillating waves toss and pelt against the ancient city wall,
On the efflugent hyaline lake waters the verdant mountains print resplendent reflective shadows,
Idling under the crystal palace gazebo,
It’s already the third watch before I know,
Shrouding the moon are the slow moving clouds,
Dimming even the willows,
Under the zephyr the dew laden lotus twiddle,
Anon fireflies flitter on the water all over the pool,
Letting my hair down loose I sit idly till dawn kindles.

 

短歌行贈王郎司直 杜甫

短歌行贈王郎司直   杜甫 (712-770)

王郎酒酣拔劍斫地歌莫哀，

我能拔爾抑塞磊落之奇才。
豫章翻風白日動，鯨魚跋浪滄溟開。
且脱佩劍休裴回，西得諸侯棹錦水。
欲向何門趿珠履，仲宣樓頭春色深。
青眼高歌望吾子，眼中之人吾老矣。

A Short Form Ballad to Wang the Magistrate Official       

Du Fu (712-770)

Heavily drunken Wang wields his sword singing and dancing with great grief and sorrow,

Wang, you need not be so miserable,
Let me relieve you from your long pent up griefs cached under your unmatchable merits and talents and be recognized by the world,
When the colossal trees toss and bend in the raging gale,
Even the sun can be shaken as well,
Whales can hurl up great billows in the oceans as they scull their tails,
Just put down your sword and stop to dance and dawdle,
Now to Shu the west you go,
Surely you are to meet some high officials who will know you being highly capable,
Whosoever be this exalted official,
It’s already late spring when I see you off on this Zhong Xuan Gazebo,
I am gazing at you with expecting eyes highly optimal,
At the same time I’ll chant my greatest hope of you as well,
My dear, you must do your best to make everything favourable,
There is nothing I can do any more as I am already too old.

 

 

貧交行 杜甫

貧交行        杜甫 (712-770)

翻手作雲覆手雨，

紛紛輕薄何須數？
君不見管鮑貧時交，

此道今人棄如土。

A Ballad on Friends Made in Abject Poverty   Du Fu (712-770)

 

When one prospers friends gather around one like clouds,

When he is wretched gathered friends scatter like gusty squall,
Such drastic change takes place amidst a mere turning of one’s palm over,
This sort of friendship is not worth our call,
Bao Shu built his everlasting friendship with Guan Zhong when they were abjectly miserable,
Nowadays this sort of sublime spirit is discarded like mud and soil.