Lament by the River Bend
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
春日潜行曲江曲。
江头宫殿锁千门，
细柳新蒲为谁绿？
忆昔霓旌下南苑，
苑中万物生颜色。
昭阳殿里第一人，
同辇随君侍君侧。
辇前才人带弓箭，
白马嚼啮黄金勒。
翻身向天仰射云，
一笑正坠双飞翼。
明眸皓齿今何在？
血污游魂归不得。
清渭东流剑阁深，
去住彼此无消息。
人生有情泪沾臆，
江水江花岂终极！
黄昏胡骑尘满城，
欲往城南望城北。
English translation
The old countryman of Shaoling swallows his sobs and weeps; on a spring day he steals along the bends of the Qujiang.
The palaces by the river lock their thousand gates; the slender willows and new rushes — for whom are they green?
I recall the days when the rainbow banners came down to the South Park, and everything in the park took on color.
The first lady of Zhaoyang Hall rode in the same carriage with the emperor, attending at his side.
Before the palanquin the lady-archers carried bow and arrows; the white horses champed at golden bits.
She turned toward the sky and shot upward at the clouds — one smile, and the pair of flying birds fell.
Where are the bright eyes and white teeth now? Blood-stained, the wandering soul cannot come back.
The clear Wei flows east, the Sword Pass lies deep; the one who went and the one who stayed have no news of each other.
A man has feeling, and tears wet his breast; the river's waters and the river's flowers — how can they ever end?
At dusk the Hu horsemen's dust fills the city; I would go south of the walls, yet find myself gazing north.
Meaning
The old man of Shaoling (as Du Fu calls himself) weeps without a sound; spring has stolen to the bank of the Qu River. The palace by the river bank keeps its thousand gates shut; for whom are the slender willow strands and the new-grown reeds so green? I recall how once the emperor's bright banners and guard of honor went down to the Southern Park, and all things in the park took on a glow of light; the first beauty of Zhaoyang Palace rode out with him in the same carriage, attending at the emperor's side. The palace women at the front of the train carried bows and arrows; the white horse was fitted with a golden bit and curb. Turning toward the clouds above, they shot, and with one laugh a pair of birds in flight fell to the ground. Where now are the bright eyes and white teeth of Lady Yang? Her wandering soul is stained with blood, and cannot come back. The clear Wei flows eastward, while Jian'ge, where the emperor is, lies so deep and far. Those who went and those who stayed have no word of each other. Life has feeling, and tears wet the breast; the flowing of the river and the opening of the river flowers — where can they have an end? At dusk the Hu riders fill the city with dust; meaning to go south of the city, he ran on instead to the city
Background
Read the background
In the autumn of 756 (the first year of the Zhide era of Emperor Suzong of Tang), Du Fu left Fuzhou to join Emperor Suzong, who had just ascended the throne; as ill luck would have it, he was seized by the rebels of An Lushan and taken to the fallen Chang'an. Returning to a place long familiar and wounded by what he saw, the poet was in great inward pain. The following spring, walking along the Qujiang in the southeast of Chang'an, overwhelmed by thousands of feelings and near to breaking with grief, he wrote "Lament by the River," a true record of his state of mind at the time.