Send Off Cha Yuanzhang, He is Going to Be a Kuicao
送 查 元 章 赴 夔 漕
柳 色 西 门 路
看 公 上 马 时。
亦 知 非 久 别
不 奈 自 成 悲。
白 发 刘 宾 客
青 衫 杜 拾 遗。
分 留 端 有 待
剩 赋 竹 枝 词。
Song Cha Yuan Zhang Fu Kui Cao
Liu se xi men lu
Kan gong shang ma shi.
Yi zhi fei jiu bie
Bu nai zi cheng bei.
Bai fa liu bin ke
Qing shan du shi yi.
Fen liu duan you dai
Sheng fu zhu zhi ci.
Send Off Cha Yuanzhang, He is Going to Be a Kuicao
Out the western capital gate, highway colored with willow trees
Time to mount an ordinary horse.
Know I will soon see you after my departure
Naturally our sorrowful fate to have many new and short assignments.
Old man Liu Yuxi was often sent away
Du Fu also was reassigned to simple and far away appointments.
With my friends gone, here alone with our poems
Read some more of your bamboo slip poems.
Notes:
Kuicao: Cha’s new job was to be a logistics supervisor on the project to dig a canal in the province of Sichuan.
Du Fu: Famous Tang Dynasty poet.