Autumn Meditations (1)
Du Fu


Jade dew wither wound maple forest
Wu mountain wu gorge air sad forest
River on wave meet sky surge
Pass on wind cloud join earth dark
Shrub chrysanthemum two open it day tear
Single boat one link hometown heart
Cold night place place urge knife measure
Baidicheng high urgent evening flat stone
Jade dew withers and wounds the groves of maple trees,
On Wu mountain, in Wu gorge, the forest air is desolate.
On the river surging waves rise to meet the sky,
Above the pass wind and cloud join the earth with darkness.
Chrysanthemum bushes open twice, weeping for their days,
A lonely boat, a single line, my heart is full of home.
Everywhere on this cold night, urgent cutting and measuring,
In Baidicheng above the evening's driven by beating on stones.


View Chinese text in simplified characters.

Other Chinese poems about Spring.

Note: Baidicheng (White Emperor City) was a fortress at Kuizhou, at the entrance to the three gorges. It was named after the god of the west and autumn.