Listen to this articleSighs of Autumn Rain (3)
In Chang’an, who notices the cloth-gowned scholar?
Locked behind his gate and guarding his walls.
The old man doesn’t go out, the weeds grow tall,
Children blithely rush through wind and rain.
The rustling rain hastens the early cold,
And geese with wet wings find high flying hard.
This autumn we’ve had no glimpse of the white sun,
When will the mud and dirt become dry earth?
秋雨嘆三首 (三)
長安布衣誰比數
反鎖衡門守環堵
老夫不出長蓬蒿
稚子無憂走風雨
雨聲颼颼催早寒
胡雁翅濕高飛難
秋來未曾見白日
泥污后土何時乾
Notes: This poem dates from 754 (Watson p. 22). Chang’an was the capital city of China. Du Fu at this time had no official position, and so wore an ordinary gown (Watson, p. 23).
This poem is volume (juàn) 216, no. 15 in the Complete Tang Poems (quán táng shī). It is translated as poem 17 in Watson, p. 23.
Watson, B. (2002) The Selected Poems of Du Fu. New York, Columbia University Press.
