Wang Wei: Puti Temple

普提寺禁裴迪来相看说
逆贼等凝碧池上作音乐供奉人
等举声便一时泪下，私成口号诵
示裴迪

万户伤心生野烟
百宫何日再朝天？秋槐叶落空宫里
凝碧池头奏管弦。

Pu Ti Si Jin Pei Di Lai Xiang Kan Shuo
Ni Zei Deng Ning Bi Chi Shang Zuo Yin Yue Gong Feng Ren
Deng Ju Sheng Bian Yi Shi Lei Xia, Si Cheng Kou Hao Song
Shi Pei Di

Wan hu shang xin sheng ye yan
Bai gong he ri zai zhao tian? Qiu huai ye luo kong gong li
Ning bi chi tou zou guan xuan.

Puti Temple Detention Area, Pei Di Arrives, We See Each Other to Talk to the Traitors at Ningbi Pond, Want to Hear Music Made, Attendants Who Worked in the Imperial Palace Begin to Sing, As They Do, Tears Fall Down, Song Lyrics Secretly Changed, Revealed to Pei Di

Ten thousand households, grieved hearts bearing the effects of war and
open country smoke
The one hundred palace workers wondering, when can they again attend daybreak court audiences? Autumn scholar trees, leaves on the ground left behind inside the empty palace
While the rebel leader listens to music concerts at the Ningbi pond.

Notes:

Puti: A Buddhist temple in the outskirts of Luoyang. After An Lushan’s overthrow of emperor Xuanzong, he set up a rebellion government in Luoyang, and then imprisoned former government officials inside the Puti temple, including Wang Wei. Puti Si (菩提寺) literally means The Temple of Buddhist Enlightenment.

Ningbi pond: Was located in an area inside the palace compound.

Song lyrics secretly changed: Workers sang their lyrics in a local dialect, not understood by An Lushan and his army.

Commentary:

Many historical accounts credit this poem as one of two that saved Wang Wei’s life while he was in captivity under the thumb of An Lushan and his army in the capital of Chang’an. The rebellion started in 755 AD.