Three Occasional Poems

[Written on the Occasion of a Visit to Ch'in in the Autumn of 759]


(One of Three)


Dismounting on an old battleground,

Everywhere I see only vast emptiness.

On the mournful wind drifting clouds flee,

Yellowed leaves drop before me.

Scavenger ants crawl through rotted bones

Also entwined in the creeper grass.



Because old men passed by sighing,

Today's men still expand their bounds.

Chinese and barbarian both win and lose,

Our borders are not often whole.

How can we find a General Chien Po

So our troops all can sleep in peace?



(Two of Three)


On a crisp autumn day I climb a cold mountain

To look south on the Mayi District

Where surrendered troops attacked the barbarians of the east

Hale and hearty, now none survive.


Barbarian yurts in disordered solitude

Above them sailing clouds of grief.

The old and infirm weep along the road

Yearning to hear the end of arms and men.

In Yeh this happens again and again

And the dead pile up like hills.

Many generals already are reed and mud,

Who rushed to scheme with whom?

(Three of Three)

A year of plenty, who says it's late?

Sweetness of the rains lies not in speed.

For tilling fields the fall rains suffice,

Grain heads even now glisten along the roads.



In the ninth moon spring's sprouts'

Faces grow old in a day.

I urge retired scholars

Not to lament that they still rot.


The time has come to show your talents--

There is no too soon or too late.

But startle the deer-skin hermit

And forget life sequestered in fragrant glades.

Tu Fu (712-770)

遣興三首

下馬古戰場，
四顧但茫然。
風悲浮雲去，
黃葉墜我前。

朽骨穴螻蟻，
又為蔓草纏。
故老行嘆息，
今人尚開邊。


漢虜互勝負，
封疆不常全。
安得廉恥將，
三軍同晏眠。

高秋登塞山，
南望馬邑州。
降虜東擊胡，
壯健盡不留。


穹廬莽牢落，
上有行雲愁。
老弱哭道路，
願聞甲兵休。

鄴中事反覆，
死人積如丘。
諸將已茅土，
載驅誰與謀。

豐年孰云遲，
甘澤不在早。
耕田秋雨足，
禾黍已映道。


春苗九月交，
顏色同日老。
勸汝衡門士，
忽悲尚枯槁。

時來展材力，
先後無醜好。
但訝鹿皮翁，
忘機對芳草。

杜甫 (公元 712-770)