Leaving Home Again
- Poetry of Du Fu

After rebellion my hometown looks lonely;

Only brambles run riot in courtyard and lane.

A hundred households lived here together;

In war they’re scattered east and west like rain.

The living have gone without leaving traces;

The dead are turned to dust, mixed with mud in vain.

A straggler from a beaten army, I come back,

Groping for the road where I used to go.

I trudge long to find but a deserted town,

I see the sun looks sad, feeling dreary and low.

I meet but foxes which bristle up in anger

And glare at me, barking in towering rage.

Of my neighbors on four sides one or two

Widows are left to live out their old age.

Even a bird loves the branch where it rests.

Poor as it is, I’ll not leave my old nest.

In spring I hoe alone the weed o’ergrown field;

At dusk I water garden without yield.

But county officers know I’ve come back;

They call me up and order me to drill.

Although I’m enlisted in my native state,

When I look back, I’ve no one to leave still.

To go not far, I’m but a lonely soul;

To go far away, I’ll lose all control.

Since my home is completely destroyed,

Far or near, what’s the difference to me?

My heart will ever ache for my sick mother

Who died five years ago in the trench unlucky.

She gave me birth, but I could do nothing for her;

We could only sigh all our life, she and me.

A man who has no home, where should he leave?

How can we live a life common people should live?

寂寞天宝后，园庐但蒿藜。

我里百余家，世乱各东西。

存者无消息，死者为尘泥。

贱子因阵败，归来寻旧蹊。

久行见空巷，日瘦气惨凄，

但对狐与狸，竖毛怒我啼。

四邻何所有，一二老寡妻。

宿鸟恋本枝，安辞且穷栖。

方春独荷锄，日暮还灌畦。

县吏知我至，召令习鼓鞞。

虽从本州役，内顾无所携。

近行止一身，远去终转迷。

家乡既荡尽，远近理亦齐。

永痛长病母，五年委沟溪。

生我不得力，终身两酸嘶。

人生无家别，何以为蒸黎。