Du Fu: Send Off Qian Zheng the Eighteenth, Exiled to Taizhou As a Minor Official

 

[updated September 2022]

 

Send Off Zheng Qian the Eighteenth, Exiled to Taizhou As a Minor Official, Your Wounds Arrived When the Wicked Were Apprehended, Not Able to Personally Meet, My Feelings For You Inside This Poem

 

送 郑 十 八 虔 贬 台 州 司 户,伤 其 临 老 陷 贼 之 故,阙 为 面 别,情 见 于 诗
郑 公 樗 散 髯 成 絲
酒 后 常 称 老 画 师。
万 里 伤 心 严 谴 日
百 年 垂 死 中 兴 时。
苍 惶 已 就 长 途 往
邂 逅 无 端 出 饯 迟。
便 与 先 生 应 永 诀
九 重 泉 路 尽 交 期。
Song Zheng Shi Ba Qian Bian Tai Zhou Si Hu, Shang Qi Lin Lao Xian Zei Zhi Gu, Que Wei Mian Bie, Qing Jian Yu Shi

Zheng gong chu san ran cheng si
Jiu hou chang chen lao hua shi.
Wan li shang xin yan qian ri
Bai nian chui si zhong xing shi.

Cang huang yi jiu chang tu wang
Xie hou wu duan chu jian chi.
Bian yu xian sheng ying yong jue
Jiu chong quan lu jin jiao xi!

 

Send Off Zheng Qian the Eighteenth, Exiled to Taizhou As a Minor Official, Your Wounds Arrived When the Wicked Were Apprehended, Not Able to Personally Meet, My Feelings For You Inside This Poem

Your beard and you like a tree that produces hanging silk with a foul odor
You call yourself a simple wall painter.
From thousands of miles, heard you were sternly reprimanded daily
So aged and close to the end, you may not be able to help the new emperor.

Fear you are already on the long highway going outside
Planning to meet, something came up to derail this plan.
Cannot imagine we will ever see each other again
Perhaps we can wait for each other in the afterlife!

 

Notes:

Taizhou: Located on the coast of Zhejiang Province.

 

Commentary:

Zheng Qian was sent to Luoyang by An Lushan and his rebels to create a new government. He repeatedly told the new regime that he was too old to serve and work for them. When the new emperor returned from exile, Zheng was accused of collaboration with the enemy. But by his non-cooperation with the northern invaders, he received exile instead of execution.