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Qū JiāngQujiang 曲江

Du Fu (杜甫, also known as Tu Fu, Du Zimei)｜High Tang｜seven-character regulated verse

Du Fu: "a life of seventy years has always been rare."

Original Chinese text with pinyin

朝回日日典春衣
cháo huí rì rì diǎn chūn yī

每日江头尽醉归
měi rì jiāng tóu jìn zuì guī

酒债寻常行处有
jiǔ zhài xún cháng xíng chù yǒu

人生七十古来稀
rén shēng qī shí gǔ lái xī

穿花蛱蝶深深见
chuān huā jiá dié shēn shēn xiàn

点水蜻蜓款款飞
diǎn shuǐ qīng tíng kuǎn kuǎn fēi

传语风光共流转
chuán yǔ fēng guāng gòng liú zhuǎn

暂时相赏莫相违
zàn shí xiāng shǎng mò xiāng wéi

Simplified characters; traditional title: 曲江.

English translation

Back from court each day, I pawn my spring clothes;

every day I return from the riverside thoroughly drunk.

Wine debts are common, found wherever I go;

a life of seventy years has always been rare.

Butterflies threading the flowers appear deep, deep within;

dragonflies touching the water fly slowly, slowly.

I send word to the spring light: let us drift along together,

enjoying each other a little while, and not part.

Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.

Line by line

朝回日日典春衣 · cháo huí rì rì diǎn chūn yī — Back from court each day, I pawn my spring clothes;

每日江头尽醉归 · měi rì jiāng tóu jìn zuì guī — every day I return from the riverside thoroughly drunk.

酒债寻常行处有 · jiǔ zhài xún cháng xíng chù yǒu — Wine debts are common, found wherever I go;

人生七十古来稀 · rén shēng qī shí gǔ lái xī — a life of seventy years has always been rare.

穿花蛱蝶深深见 · chuān huā jiá dié shēn shēn xiàn — Butterflies threading the flowers appear deep, deep within;

点水蜻蜓款款飞 · diǎn shuǐ qīng tíng kuǎn kuǎn fēi — dragonflies touching the water fly slowly, slowly.

传语风光共流转 · chuán yǔ fēng guāng gòng liú zhuǎn — I send word to the spring light: let us drift along together,

暂时相赏莫相违 · zàn shí xiāng shǎng mò xiāng wéi — enjoying each other a little while, and not part.

Meaning and imagery

The poem seems carefree — pawning clothes for wine — but its logic is melancholy: since few people live to seventy, enjoy the spring now. The third couplet is a celebrated piece of close observation, with butterflies glimpsed among blossoms and dragonflies dipping the water. The last couplet speaks directly to the spring scenery, asking it to stay a little longer.

Background

Written in 758 in Chang'an, when Du Fu held a minor post at court and felt sidelined. Qujiang was a scenic lake park in the city. The Japanese word "koki" (古稀, age seventy) comes from line four.

Key words

典 diǎn: to pawn
古来稀 gǔ lái xī: rare since ancient times
蛱蝶 jiá dié: butterfly
款款 kuǎn kuǎn: slowly, leisurely

About the poet: Du Fu

Du Fu (also romanized Tu Fu) lived through the An Lushan Rebellion, which tore apart the Tang empire and his own family life. His precise, compassionate poems record war, poverty and loyalty, earning him the titles "Sage of Poetry" and "poet-historian."

Lifetime: 712–770. Other famous works: Happy Rain on a Spring Night (春夜喜雨); The Prime Minister of Shu (蜀相); The Officer at Shihao Village (石壕吏); Thoughts While Traveling at Night (旅夜书怀); Qujiang (曲江); Meeting Li Guinian in Jiangnan (江南逢李龟年); Ballad of the Army Carts (兵车行); Moonlit Night (月夜); Spring View (春望); Climbing High (登高); Quatrain: Two Orioles (绝句·两个黄鹂鸣翠柳); On Yueyang Tower (登岳阳楼); My Thatched Hut Torn by the Autumn Wind (茅屋为秋风所破歌).