Parting from Abbot Zan
- Poetry of Du Fu

百川日东流，客去亦不息。

我生苦漂荡，何时有终极。

赞公释门老，放逐来上国。

还为世尘婴，颇带憔悴色。

杨枝晨在手，豆子雨已熟。

是身如浮云，安可限南北。

异县逢旧友，初忻写胸臆。

天长关塞寒，岁暮饥冻逼。

野风吹征衣，欲别向曛黑。

马嘶思故枥，归鸟尽敛翼。

古来聚散地，宿昔长荆棘。

相看俱衰年，出处各努力。

The hundred rivers flow east every day,

The traveller keeps on moving, without rest.

My life is one of bitterness and drift,

What time will they finally reach their end?

Abbot Zan, learned in Buddhist teaching,

Banished from the capital to here.

Still we're bothered by these earthly cares,

Reflected in our lean and haggard faces.

We stood one morning with willow twigs in hand;

The beans sprouted; then rain; then they ripened again.

The body floats along just like a cloud,

What limit can there be, to south or north?

I meet my old friend in a foreign region,

Newly happy, I write what's in my breast.

The sky is long, the fortified pass is cold,

At the year's end, hunger and chill pursue me.

The desert wind blows my travelling clothes,

I'm ready to leave and journey into the sunset.

The horse neighs, remembering its old stable,

Returning birds have all now folded their wings.

The places where we used to meet and part,

Thorns and brambles have quickly covered over.

We look at each other, both in years of decline;

Leaving or staying, we each must do our best.