[updated September 2022]
Joyfully Travel to Reach This Place: Three Poems
喜 达 行 在 所： 三 首
愁 思 胡 笳 夕
凄 凉 汉 苑 春。
生 还 今 日 事
间 道 暂 时 人。
司 隶 章 初 睹
南 阳 气 已 新。
喜 心 翻 倒 极
呜 咽 泪 沾 巾。
Xi Da Xing Zai Suo: San Shou
Chou si hu jia xi
Qi liang han yuan chun.
Sheng huan jin ri shi
Jian dao zan shi ren.
Si li zhang chu du
Nan yang qi yi xin.
Xi xin fan dao ji
Wu yan lei zhan jin.
Joyfully Travel to Reach This Place: Three Poems
Melancholy when thinking of the nomadic music playing at sunset
Enclosed palace orchards in spring now dreary and desolate.
Life returns after these trying times
Move beyond the temporary and transient to start a new path.
Begin to see government officials attend to business and written documents
National rebirth as the atmosphere already became refreshed.
Extremely happy heart-mind can quickly overturn and change directions
Sore throat and tears of joy moistens my handkerchief.
Notes:
This place: Fengxian was the place where Emperor Xuanzong and his retreating government fled to after An Lushan sacked both capitals of Luoyang and Chang’an in 756 AD.
Commentary:
Du Fu wrote this poem after the Tang Dynasty regained control of both capital cities, Chang’an and Luoyang.