To the Hermit Wei the Eighth
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
动如参与商。
今夕复何夕，
共此灯烛光。
少壮能几时，
鬓发各已苍。
访旧半为鬼，
惊呼热中肠。
焉知二十载，
重上君子堂。
昔别君未婚，
儿女忽成行。
怡然敬父执，
问我来何方。
问答乃未已，
驱儿罗酒浆。
夜雨剪春韭，
新炊间黄粱。
主称会面难，
一举累十觞。
十觞亦不醉，
感子故意长。
明日隔山岳，
世事两茫茫。
English translation
In this life men do not meet, they go their ways like Shen and Shang.
Tonight, what night is this, that we should share this candle's light?
How long can youth and strength endure? The hair at our temples is already gray.
Asking of old friends, half are ghosts, I cry out, and my heart burns within.
Who would have thought that after twenty years I should climb once more to your hall?
When last we parted you were not yet wed, now sons and daughters stand in a row.
Pleased, they honor their father's friend, and ask me from what place I have come.
Our questions and answers are not yet ended, when you send the children to set out the wine.
In the night rain you cut the spring chives, newly steamed, with yellow millet mixed in.
Our host says such a meeting is rare, we raise ten cups in a row.
Ten cups, and still I am not drunk, so moved am I by your long old friendship.
Tomorrow mountains will stand between us, and the world's affairs be lost in haze.
Meaning
In life, parted friends can seldom meet, like the Shen star in the west and the Shang star in the east, one rising as the other sets.
What night is this, so blessed, that we should trim the lamp and speak our hearts together?
How many are the years of youth and strength? In a moment you and I have both grown gray at the temples.
I ask of our old friends; most of them are dead. My heart is shaken and I cannot but sigh again and again.
Who could have thought that after twenty years apart I should have the chance to come once more and visit your door?
When last we parted you had not yet married; in an instant your children stand in a row.
Courteous and well-mannered, they smile and welcome their father's dear friend, eagerly asking from what place I have come.
Before all the old stories can be told, you urge the children to set out the wine and the dishes.
Through the night rain you have cut fresh chives; you bring newly boiled yellow rice for me to taste.
You
Background
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This poem was probably written in the spring of 759 (the second year of the Qianyuan era of Emperor Suzong of Tang), when Du Fu was serving as assistant for military and civil affairs (sigong canjun) at Huazhou. In the winter of 758 (the first year of Qianyuan), Du Fu was demoted to that post at Huazhou for having submitted a memorial in defense of Fang Guan. In the third month of 759, when the armies of the nine military governors were routed at Yecheng, Du Fu made his way back to Huazhou from Luoyang by way of Tongguan Pass, and it was at Fengxian County, which Du Fu passed through on his way back, that the home of Wei the Eighth stood. At Fengxian he called upon his friend of boyhood days, Wei the Eighth, who was living in the countryside; overwhelmed by countless feelings, he wrote this poem and presented it to him.