Du Mu: Sui Dynasty Levee Willow Trees

 

[updated October 2022]

 

Sui Dynasty Levee Willow Trees

 

隋 堤 柳
夹 岸 垂 杨 三 百 里
只 应 图 画 最 相 宜。
自 嫌 流 落 西 归 疾
不 见 春 风 二 月 时。
Sui Di Liu

Jia an chui yang san bai li
Zhi ying tu hua zui xiang yi.
Zi xian liu luo xi gui ji
Bu jian chun feng er yue shi.

 

Sui Dynasty Levee Willow Trees

Layers of poplar trees for a hundred miles along both banks of a canal
Most of the scenery and early history are like a painting.
Self-disappointment, wandered about so long that the return west finds me weak and ill
May not be able to see the second month of spring breezes.

 

Notes:

[Written just months before Du Mu died in 852 AD]