ON THE HEIGHT

Du Fu

(712-770, Tang Dynasty)

The wind so swift, the sky so wide, apes wail and cry;

Water so clear and beach so white, birds wheel and fly.

The boundless forest sheds its leaves shower by shower;

The endless river rolls its waves hour after hour.

A thousand miles from home, I'm grieved at autumn's plight;

Ill now and then for years, alone I'm on this height.

Living in times so hard, at frosted hair I pine;

Cast down by poverty, I have to give up wine.

登高 

唐 杜甫

风急天高猿啸哀,渚清沙白鸟飞回。无边落木萧萧下,不尽长江滚滚来。

万里悲秋常作客,百年多病独登台。艰难苦恨繁霜鬓,潦倒新停浊酒杯。

About the poet 

Du Fu, a Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty who was also a politician with an ambition. He longed to serve his country as a responsible and successful civil servant. The poet was a good friend with another acclaimed poet of the same time who is called Li Bai.

About the book 

300 Tang Poems Translated by Xu Yuanchong (1921-2021) 

Published by China Intercontinental Press

About the translator

Born in Nanchang in East China's Jiangxi Province, Xu Yuanchong was a professor of literary translation at Peking University. He married Zhao Jun in 1959 in Beijing. The couple has a son named Xu Ming.

Book 300 Tang Poems translated by Xu Yuanchong Photo: Courtesy for China Intercontinental Press