Du Fu: Respond to Pei Di, Climb Shuzhou’s Eastern Pavilion, Send Off a Visitor at Daybreak, Remember Our Plum Blossom Departure

Respond to Pei Di, Climb Shuzhou’s Eastern Pavilion, Send Off a Visitor at Daybreak, Remember Our Plum Blossoms Departure

和 裴 迪 登 蜀 州 东 亭 送 客 逢 早 梅 相 忆 见 寄

东 阁 官 梅 动 诗 兴
还 如 何 逊 在 扬 州。
此 时 对 雪 遥 相 忆
送 客 逢 春 可 自 由。

幸 不 折 来 伤 岁 暮
若 为 看 去 乱 乡 愁。
江 边 一 树 垂 垂 发
朝 夕 催 人 自 白 头。

He Pei Di Deng Shu Zhou Dong Ting Song Ke Feng Zao
Mei Xiang Yi Jian Ji

Dong ge guan mei dong shi xing
Huan ru he xun zai yang zhou.
Ci shi dui xue yao xiang yi
Song ke feng chun ke zi you.

Xing bu zhe lai shang sui mu
Ruo wei kan qu luan xiang chou.
Jiang bian yi shu chui chui fa
Zhao xi cui ren zi bai tou.

Respond to Pei Di, Climb Shuzhou’s Eastern Pavilion, Send Off a Visitor at Daybreak, Remember Our Plum Blossom Departure

Eastern government pavilion, plum blossoms create a poetic mood
Think that your poem reminds me of Yangzhou.
So distant from each other, this season I have no snow
Whereas you can naturally send off your spring time guests.

End of the year good fortune, in spite of not receiving a broken and
blossomed branch
If you send one to me, it would only cause me turmoil and hometown sorrows.
Along my riverside, one tree is developing gradually
From dawn to sunset I check up on this tree, flowers and my hair
turning white.

Notes:

Pei Di: (b. ca. 714): Poet from the Tang Dynasty. Friend of the famous poet, Wang Wei.  Along with Wang, he wrote half of the poems on the Wang River scroll. See this website for the translations and other information.

Shuzhou: The city of Suzhou in eastern China.

Yangzhou:  Major city of the ancient salt trade, and therefore one of the wealthiest Chinese cities in ancient times.