BOOKMARK

Presenting to Recluse Wei the Eighth

By Du Fu Tang Dynasty

English Poetic Translation

To meet in human life is rare,
Like shifting stars that drift apart.
What wondrous night is this, to share
The flickering light of candle-art?

How many years can youth remain?
Our temples wear the frost of age.
Half of our friends are ghosts, and pain
Burns sudden in a startled page.

Who knew that after twenty years,
I'd climb once more your quiet hall?
You wed long after parting tears,
And now your children line the wall.

They greet your old companion there,
And ask from what far realm I came;
Before our words can fill the air,
They bring the cups to feed the flame.

Spring leeks are cut in driving rain,
And yellow millet freshly steams.
The host laments our meeting's pain,
And ten full goblets crown our schemes.

Though ten cups pass, we are not blind;
I am o'erwhelmed by steadfast grace.
Tomorrow mountains leave behind
Two vagrants in time's boundless space.

Classical Chinese & Pinyin

人生不相見，動如參與商。
今夕復何夕，共此燈燭光。
少壯能幾時，鬢髮各已蒼。
訪舊半爲鬼，驚呼熱中腸。
焉知二十載，重上君子堂。
昔別君未婚，兒女忽成行。
怡然敬父執，問我來何方。
問荅乃未已，兒女羅酒漿。
夜雨剪春韭，新炊間黃粱。
主稱會面難，一舉累十觴。
十觴亦不醉，感子故意長。
明日隔山嶽，世事兩茫茫。

rén shēng bù xiāng jiàn, dòng rú cān yǔ shāng.
jīn xī fù hé xī, gòng cǐ dēng zhú guāng.
shào zhuàng néng jǐ shí, bìn fà gè yǐ cāng.
fǎng jiù bàn wéi guǐ, jīng hū rè zhōng cháng.
yān zhī èr shí zài, chóng shàng jūn zǐ táng.
xī bié jūn wèi hūn, ér nǚ hū chéng háng.
yí rán jìng fù zhí, wèn wǒ lái hé fāng.
wèn dá nǎi wèi yǐ, ér nǚ luó jiǔ jiāng.
yè yǔ jiǎn chūn jiǔ, xīn chuī jiàn huáng liáng.
zhǔ chēng huì miàn nán, yī jǔ lěi shí shāng.
shí shāng yì bù zuì, gǎn zǐ gù yì cháng.
míng rì gé shān yuè, shì shì liǎng máng máng.

Philological Direct Translation

Human life not mutually seeing, moving like Shen and Shang stars.
Tonight again what evening, sharing this lamp candle light.
Youth and strength can how many, temples and hair each already grey.
Visiting old friends half are ghosts, startled shouting hot within bowels.
How to know twenty years, again ascending gentleman's hall.
Past parting you not married, children suddenly form ranks.
Joyful respecting father's friend, asking me arriving what direction.
Questions and answers then not finished, children arrange wine and broth.
Night rain cutting spring leeks, newly cooked mixed yellow millet.
Host declares meeting face difficult, one raise piles ten goblets.
Ten goblets also not drunk, touched by your ancient intent long.
Tomorrow separated by mountains and ridges, worldly affairs both vast and vague.

Scholarly Exegesis & Cultural Commentary

I. Formal Poetic Architecture & Meter

This masterpiece belongs to the genre of Ancient-Style Verse, specifically written in five-character ancient verse lines. Unlike rigidly regulated verse, this form allows for fluid narrative progression, enjambment, and shifts in tone without strict constraints on tonal meter or mandatory inner-line parallelism. However, Du Fu naturally weaves spontaneous antithetical balances, particularly in the central narrative movement where domestic hospitality contrasts sharply with the broader landscape of national trauma and personal mortality.

II. Historical Chronology & Existential Impulse

Composed in the spring of the year 759 during a brief respite amid the devastation of the An Lushan Rebellion, the poem captures Du Fu in a phase of profound personal displacement. Having recently resigned from his minor official post in Huazhou due to famine and political disillusionment, Du Fu wanders through rural isolation. The reunion with his childhood friend Wei the Eighth, who lives as an unranked recluse, acts as a poignant emotional anchor against the chaotic backdrop of a fractured empire.

III. Line-by-Line Exegesis & Allusion Decoding

The poem flows organically from cosmic lament to intimate domesticity, before dissolving back into the melancholy vastness of an unsettled world.

Lines 1-2 (Opening Couplet): The poet opens with a cosmic metaphor drawn from classical astronomy, comparing human separations to the stars Shen and Shang, which never occupy the night sky simultaneously.
Lines 3-4 (First Antithetical Turn): The meditation shifts from cosmic distance to the brutal speed of biological time, culminating in the shocking realization that half of their acquaintances have passed away.
Lines 5-6 (Second Antithetical Turn / Climax): The temporal gap of twenty years is bridged by entering the friend's hall, only to discover that youth has been replaced by the sudden appearance of grown children.
Closing Lines (Resolving Couplet): The final couplet returns to the harsh realities of travel and political instability, where tomorrow's mountains will once again sever their connection in a vast and indifferent world.

IV. Cultural Symbolism & Key Metaphors

The imagery of this poem is deeply rooted in the aesthetic of rustic poverty and unwavering friendship. The freshly cut spring leeks gathered during a night rain and the newly steamed yellow millet represent the ultimate sincerity of reclusive hospitality, stripped of courtly pretense. These humble agrarian elements underscore the moral purity of scholars who remain untainted by the corrupting ambitions of the imperial capital.

V. Philosophical Core & Global Resonance

The philosophical weight of the poem rests upon the intersection of Confucian social duty—expressed through loyalty to friendship and sorrow for lost comrades—and Daoist acceptance of human transience. Du Fu does not rail against fate with bitterness; instead, he transforms personal sorrow into a timeless monument of empathy. The poem resonates universally because it captures the exquisite vulnerability of human bonds when confronted by the merciless currents of time and history.