Back with a Du Fu whimsy

Sorry about the delay

A Spring Night in the Chancellery, Attached to the Palace
Du Fu

In the palace annexe, as dusk falls, the flowers discreetly fade,
And the roosting birds, as they pass, whistle sweetly.
Here are ten thousand rooves, and above them, stars are stirring,
The highest circle of heaven catches a flood of moonlight.
I can’t sleep. Every sound is the rattle of the morning shift’s gold key chains,
Blame the wind, but I imagine the jingle of jade on fancy reins.
This file must be presented to His Highness at first light,
I ask in darkness, ask again: What time? What time of night?

杜甫  春宿左省
花隐掖垣暮，啾啾栖⻦过。
星临万户动，月傍九霄多。
不寝听金钥，因⻛想玉珂。
明朝有封事，数问夜如何?

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Sorry about the delay in posting. I got busy teaching, and two poems wouldn’t yield to my will. I probably should have let them go by and moved on to something else, but sometimes I feel like you have to smack these poets upside the head and say, no, you WILL give me the rhyme I desire. And eventually they do.

This is earlyish Du Fu. They’re telling me 758, which would be after the An Lushan rebellion, during the restoration. Du Fu was working in the Chancellery, one of the ministries that was built right onto the palace wall. His job was as a “remonstration official”, which meant that his duties included pointing out where the emperor was going wrong. Needless to say, this made him extremely popular.

This poem consists of a series of flattering images, in which the palace is compared to the heavens; and then a payoff. The ten thousand rooves sound like a city, but it’s just the palace. The highest circle of heaven is either high in the air, where the palace towers reach to; or it’s the palace itself. After all, what place could be higher? The palace/heaven is unlocked with golden keys. Nobles coming to morning court might often ride horses with dangling, jingling jades on their reins. The last couplet tells us Du Fu is looking at the palace at night because he’s nervous about presenting a file at dawn court the next morning.

Here’s a reconstructed reading: