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7. To Recluse Wei the Eighth | Du Fu

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English translation

People so rarely meet in this life; once parted they move like Shen and Shang.

Shen and Shang are two stars that rise as the other sets and are never in the sky together. The opening states 'not meeting' as the normal condition, borrowing an astronomical fact and adding no feeling to it — which makes it heavier.

What night is this, that we share this one candle's light?

'What night is this' is an old phrase going back to the Book of Songs, and Du Fu uses it as it stands. He writes no joy at the reunion, only disbelief. One ready-made exclamation carries the weight of twenty years.

How long does youth last? Now the hair at both our temples has gone grey.

The first thing confirmed after the reunion is the other man's white hair. No greetings, straight to the body — twenty years here is something visible.

I ask after our old friends; half of them are ghosts. I cry out, and something burns in my chest.

'Half of them are ghosts' settles war and years in three words. The burning in the second line is physical, not lyrical — that is what hearing about the dead does to a body.

Who could have known that after twenty years I would climb your steps again?

'Who could have known' refuses to assume. When they parted twenty years earlier, neither put a reunion into any plan.

When we parted you were not yet married; now your children stand in a row.

'Stand in a row' says more than 'you are married' — it shows there are enough of them to form a line. Time is measured here by the height of the next generation.

They greet their father's old friend with easy respect and ask where I have come from.

The children's manners mean Wei Ba has spoken of this friend often. Du Fu does not say he is moved. He writes down one polite question from a child — being remembered is shown through the next generation's manner.

Before the questions and answers are done, the children have set out the wine.

Speech in the first line, hands in the second. Hospitality here needs no instruction; the single word 'set out' hides all the preparation and leaves only the result.

Spring chives cut in the night rain; new-cooked rice with yellow millet mixed in.

These are the only two lines in the poem about eating, and the most concrete. The chives were cut just now, the millet was mixed into the rice — both everyday, neither prepared specially for a guest. Du Fu rests a twenty-year reunion on these two things.

My host says meeting is hard; one raise of the cup and ten have gone down.

'Have gone down' is accumulation, not a single draught — the ten cups were counted out. The host does not make a speech. He pours, and the difficulty is all in the number.

Ten cups and still not drunk, because I am moved by how long your old feeling has lasted.

The reason is not capacity but 'old feeling'. What would make a man want to be drunk and what keeps him clear-headed are the same thing.

Tomorrow a mountain range will be between us, and what comes after is blank to us both.

There is no date set for another meeting. Eleven lines gather inward; these last two push straight out to tomorrow, and past anything visible.

赏析 · Commentary

拿两颗星起手 · Opening With Two Stars

第一句「动如参与商」是个天文事实：参星和商星此出彼没，永远不会同时出现在天上，所以古人说兄弟不睦也叫「参商」。杜甫把它放在最前面，等于先把「见不着」定为常态，再来说今晚这一次例外。顺序很要紧——如果先写重逢再感叹别离，情绪就减了；反过来先立常态，那盏烛光就有了重量。

The first line's comparison to Shen and Shang is an astronomical fact: the two stars rise as the other sets and never share the sky, which is why estranged brothers were also called 'Shen and Shang'. Du Fu places it at the very front, establishing not-meeting as the norm before mentioning tonight's exception. The order matters. Had he written the reunion first and sighed over the separation afterwards, the feeling would be thinner. By setting the norm first, he gives the single candle its weight.

半为鬼这三个字 · The Three Words 'Half Are Ghosts'

重逢这一段里，杜甫刚问起旧友，得到的回答是一半已经死了。他没有写战场，也没有写哪一年哪一场乱，只用「访旧半为鬼」把结果摆出来，然后接「惊呼热中肠」——热的是胸口，是听见死讯时身体的反应。这首诗写于安史之乱期间，背景只以它造成的后果出现一次，后面再没提。

In the reunion passage, Du Fu has only just asked after old friends, and the answer is that half are dead. He writes nothing of battlefields, nothing of which year or which rising; he lays out the result in the three characters "half are ghosts" and follows it with the burning in his chest — a physical reaction to news of the dead. The poem was written during the An Lushan rebellion, and that background appears once, as its consequence, and is never raised again.

春韭与黄粱 · Chives and Millet

「夜雨剪春韭，新炊间黄粱」是全诗唯一落到吃的两句，也是最具体的地方。韭菜是夜里冒雨去剪的，黄粱是掺在新饭里煮的——两样都是现成的家常东西，没有一样是为待客特意备下的。杜甫写重逢，最后停在剪韭和掺米这两个动作上：卫八家没什么拿得出手的，能拿出来的都拿出来了。

The couplet about spring chives and yellow millet is the only place in the poem that comes down to eating, and the most concrete. The chives were cut in the rain at night; the millet was mixed into rice newly cooked. Both are ordinary things already at hand; neither was laid in specially for a guest. Du Fu leaves the reunion on these two actions: the Wei household had little to offer, and everything it had, it brought out.

不约下一次 · No Date for the Next Time

结尾两句没有约期，这在赠别诗里不多见。「明日隔山岳，世事两茫茫」把时间从今夜推到明天，然后停在「茫茫」。前十一句一直在往里收——相聚、认人、喝酒、吃菜，越写越近；最后两句往外推，推到看不见的地方。不约下次，前面写的那些就都留在今晚这一夜。

The closing couplet sets no date, which is unusual in a parting poem. "Tomorrow a range between us, and after that blank to us both" shoves the time forward from tonight to tomorrow and then stops at the blank. The eleven lines before it have been gathering inward — meeting, recognising, drinking, eating, each closer than the last — and then the final two push outward, past anything visible. No date is set, so everything written before stays inside this one night.

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