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Sending a Poem to Remembrancer Han

By Du Fu Tang Dynasty
English Poetic Translation
Joyless, my thoughts drift southward to Yueyang, / while sickness binds my body to the bed. / That peerless friend, across the autumn floods, / washes his feet where Dongting mirrors earth. / High geese vanish into darkening light; / red maple leaves frost under autumn skies. / In Jade Capital, the star-lords crowd the Dipper, / riding qilin or veiled in phoenix plumes. / Lotus banners drift through misty music; / inverted shadows shake the Xiaoxiang streams. / The master of the star-palace drinks deep, / while winged immortals stand apart, alone. / Word has reached me of Master Red Pine— / could it be Han Zhangliang reborn? / Once he helped the Liu house quell Chang'an, / his strategist's heart still bruised by mortal cares. / Through empire's rise and fall, how dare I speak? / I scorn the foul and feast on autumn wind. / Stranded in exile like the ancient bards, / may the South Pole Star preserve his years! / Why must that fair one linger far away, / when he belongs within the golden hall?
Classical Chinese & Pinyin
今我不樂思嶽陽，身欲奮飛病在牀。
美人娟娟隔秋水，濯足洞庭望八荒。
鴻飛冥冥日月白，青楓葉赤天雨霜。
玉京羣帝集北斗，或騎騏驎翳鳳皇。
芙蓉旌旗煙霧樂，影動倒景搖瀟湘。
星宮之君醉瓊漿，羽人稀少不在旁。
似聞昨者赤松子，恐是漢代韓張良。
昔隨劉氏定長安，帷幄未改神慘傷。
國家成敗吾豈敢，色難腥腐餐風香。
周南留滯古所惜，南極老人應壽昌。
美人胡爲隔秋水，焉得置之貢玉堂。
jīn wǒ bù lè sī yuè yáng, shēn yù fèn fēi bìng zài chuáng.
měi rén juān juān gé qiū shuǐ, zhuó zú dòng tíng wàng bā huāng.
hóng fēi míng míng rì yuè bái, qīng fēng yè chì tiān yǔ shuāng.
yù jīng qún dì jí běi dǒu, huò qí qí lín yì fèng huáng.
fú róng jīng qí yān wù lè, yǐng dòng dào jǐng yáo xiāo xiāng.
xīng gōng zhī jūn zuì qióng jiāng, yǔ rén xī shǎo bù zài páng.
sì wén zuó zhě chì sōng zǐ, kǒng shì hàn dài hán zhāng liáng.
xī suí liú shì dìng cháng ān, wéi wò wèi gǎi shén cǎn shāng.
guó jiā chéng bài wú qǐ gǎn, sè nán xīng fǔ cān fēng xiāng.
zhōu nán liú zhì gǔ suǒ xī, nán jí lǎo rén yìng shòu chāng.
měi rén hú wéi gé qiū shuǐ, yān dé zhì zhī gòng yù táng.
Philological Direct Translation
Now I am not happy thinking of Yueyang, / Body wishes to struggle and fly, sickness is on the bed.
Beautiful person, lovely and delicate, separated by autumn water, / Washing feet in Dongting, gazing at the eight wastes.
Wild geese fly into the dim dark, sun and moon are bright, / Green maple leaves are red, Heaven rains frost.
Jade Capital's host of emperors gather at the Northern Dipper, / Some riding qilin, shading themselves with phoenixes.
Lotus banners and pennants in mist and music, / Shadows move, inverted reflections shake the Xiaoxiang.
Lord of the star palace is drunk on jade nectar, / Feathered immortals are sparse and few, not at his side.
It seems I heard recently of Master Red Pine, / Fearing he might be Han dynasty's Han Zhangliang.
Formerly following the Liu clan to pacify Chang'an, / Within the curtains unalterable, spirit grieved and wounded.
State success or failure, how would I dare, / Difficult to show a pleasant face to stinking rot, dining on wind and fragrance.
Lingering in Zhounan was anciently to be pitied, / The Old Man of the South Pole should be long-lived and prosperous.
Beautiful person, why separated by autumn water, / How to attain placing him together in the jade hall.
Scholarly Exegesis & Cultural Commentary

I. Formal Poetic Architecture & Meter

This masterwork is written in ancient-style irregular pentasyllabic verse, commonly known as gushi, allowing for expansive emotional shifts and dramatic tonal modulation. Unlike the rigid constraints of regulated verse, Du Fu employs shifting rhyme schemes across twenty-two lines, traversing high celestial imagery down to bitter political lamentation. The architecture mirrors an incantatory vision, utilizing parallel couplets mid-poem not for static symmetry, but to propel a surging prophetic current.

II. Historical Chronology & Existential Impulse

Composed during the tumultuous middle years of the Tang Dynasty, this poem reflects Du Fu's desperate isolation during a period of imperial fracture and personal destitution. The recipient, Han Zongwu, served as an outspoken imperial reminder who had fallen out of favor with the court. Stranded away from the capital, Du Fu projects his exiled friend into celestial realms of Daoist immortals while mourning the corruption of the political sphere and his own broken health.

III. Line-by-Line Exegesis & Allusion Decoding

The poem unfolds across a sweeping visionary canvas, moving from physical infirmity to cosmic exile and historical lament.

  • Lines 1-2 (Opening Couplet): The poet establishes an agonizing tension between mental longing for Yueyang and the debilitating illness keeping him bedridden.
  • Lines 3-4 (First Antithetical Turn): The introduction of the beautiful person across autumn waters evokes both the classical tropes of yearning and the pure detachment of a loyal official washing his feet from worldly dust.
  • Lines 5-6 (Second Antithetical Turn / Climax): Celestial imagery of the Dipper and immortal processions contrasts sharply with the frosty desolation of autumn maple leaves.
  • Closing Lines (Resolving Couplet): The invocation of Han Zhangliang grounds the cosmic vision in historical statecraft, ending with a poignant desire to see his virtuous friend restored to the imperial hall.

IV. Cultural Symbolism & Key Metaphors

The poem is rich in traditional Chinese symbolic vocabulary, channeling both Confucian political duty and Daoist transcendence.

  • Autumn Water: Represents impassable distance, emotional purity, and the mournful barrier between kindred spirits.
  • Master Red Pine and Han Zhangliang: Alludes to the legendary strategist who abandoned worldly power for Daoist immortality, representing untainted political integrity.

V. Philosophical Core & Global Resonance

Du Fu synthesizes Confucian sorrow over state affairs with Daoist transcendence, creating a universal meditation on friendship, integrity, and physical frailty. The poet refuses to flatter corruption, choosing instead to starve on the wind of moral purity. This timeless declaration of intellectual independence speaks across civilizations to anyone who has maintained loyalty to truth amid political decay.

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