62. Dispatching to Admonitor Han

A poem by Du Fu, translated by Hyun Woo Kim

Today, I do not enjoy thinking of Yueyang:

The body, in its sickbed, wants to exert and fly.

My mellow, mellow beauty across the autumn water, you

Wash your feet in Dongting, gazing in the eight directions.

Wild geese fly in the deep of the heavens, the sun and the moon shine,

Blue maple leaves turn red—rain and frost in the sky.

Many lords of the Jade Capital gather at the North Star,

Some riding Qilins, and some on Fenghuangs.

Lotus flags fall into the smoke and fog,

Their moving shadows, upside down, reflected on Xiaoxiang.

The kings of the Stellar Palace are drunk with Jade Nectar;

The Feathered Men, rare and few, are not around.

It seems whom I heard about yesterday was Chisongzi;

Maybe it was Zhang Liang of Han, from the Han Era.

In the past, he followed the Liu clan and pacified Changan;

The field headquarters haven't changed—the spirit is worn and hurt!

The success or failure of the nation, how can I, dare...

My face crumples at what is fishy or stale—I take the fragrance of the maple as a meal.

Sojourning in Zhounan has been a lamentable deed since long ago;

The Old Man of the South Pole should bring longevity and prosperity.

My beauty, how come he is across the autumn water?

How can I free him, and recommend him for the Jade Hall?

「寄韓諫議」

今我不樂思岳陽

身欲奮飛病在床

美人娟娟隔秋水

濯足洞庭望八荒

鴻飛冥冥日月白

青楓葉赤天雨霜

玉京群帝集北斗

或騎麒麟翳鳳凰

芙蓉旌旗煙霧落

影動倒景搖瀟湘

星宮之君醉瓊漿

羽人稀少不在旁

似聞昨者赤松子

恐是漢代韓張良

昔隨劉氏定長安

帷幄未改神慘傷

國家成敗吾豈敢

色難腥腐餐楓香

周南留滯古所惜

南極老人應壽昌

美人胡為隔秋水

焉得置之貢玉堂

From Hyun Woo:

It is uncertain who “Admonitor Han” was. The position, 諫議, whose title I translated as “admonitor”, functioned like the press in the Tang court. An Admonitor could not wield power in practice, but his job was to monitor other officials and criticize them if necessary. We can easily imagine that Admonitor Han must have made many political enemies.

“Yueyang” is a city in Hunan, and “Xiaoxiang” is another name for the region. It seems Han was expelled from the capital. Du Fu cannot visit him since he has fallen sick and Han is “across the autumn water”. Because of his friend, whom he calls “my beauty” (it was common for medieval Chinese men to address each other thus), he cannot even pleasantly think of Yueyang. Hunan is the place of bitter exile for his friend.

Missing Han and looking up at the sky, Du Fu imagines the heavenly court, which the Chinese called the “Jade Capital”. Considering what Han has to go through, whoever up there are not doing their job properly: “The kings of the Stellar Palace are drunk with Jade Nectar”. This is why the “Feathered Men”, those who were born as men but became immortal through Taoist asceticism and alchemy, do not want to be around them. To them, the “lords” and the “kings” who were born as deities are simply disappointing.

The stream of consciousness leads Du Fu to recalling Chisongzi and Zhang Liang. They are people who allegedly became “Feathered Men”. He thinks more about Zhang Liang, since he was a remarkable politician and military commander. “The field headquarters”, where Zhang Liang would have led the army, “haven’t changed”. Then why did Admonitor Han, such a capable man like Zhang Liang, have to be exiled, instead of appointed to a noteworthy position? The “spirit is worn and hurt!”

Du Fu, suddenly, refrains from making further political comments. “The success or failure of the nation, how can I, dare...” He would rather not say anything about it, since his “face crumples at what is fishy or stale”. It is better to “take the fragrance of the maple as a meal.” He makes a subtle reference to a historic incident, where Sima Tan was left by himself in “Zhounan” and not allowed to accompany the emperor, and wishes that a god, the “Old Man of the South Pole”, will “bring longevity and prosperity.”

In the last two lines, we can see that Du Fu still wants to help Han. Nevertheless, he is not sure what he can do for him, if anything. He “is across the autumn water”. Many times in life, we also face that autumn water.

If you enjoyed my work, you can buy me a cup of tea. I am not a coffee person, by the way.