Du Fu Does Not Like Conscription (5/n)
The voice of the young wife
To Leave a New Bride Du Fu If climbing roses twine on windblown hemp, The rose stems cannot grow to any length. When you become an active soldier’s bride, You may as well be tossed away roadside. We’ve knotted hair: we’re man and wife; Before I shared your bed, you left. To marry, and then wave goodbye, Is this not premature? Too swift? You’re posted at a nearby fort: Heyang’s the front line in this war, But I’m in limbo, wedding cut too short, Ashamed to face my mother-in-law. For years, my parents sheltered me; They shut me up all year round. But girls must go where husbands lead: A dog’s life if you choose a hound, Or pick a rooster and get chicken feed. You’re gone now, to the killing ground, The pain is piercing my heart. I’d follow you, but being around Could be more strain than being apart. Forget your marriage in that place, Please promise me to train and drill. I fear a woman at the base Could hurt morale and sap your will. It’s not so bad. I grew up poor. How long I hoarded this silk dress… Now I will not wear it any more, Just wash, and face you makeup-less. I raise my head up to the skies And large or small, each bird that flies Flies in a pair. Misfortune and disaster fill our lives, I’ll always hold my husband in my eyes.
Three Leaving poems date from this same period, and all see Du Fu creating a fictional narrator to illustrate the pity of military service destroying the lives of ordinary people.
In this poem, Du Fu takes on the persona of a young bride. This was a very common literary image, but Du Fu’s young woman seems to have a little more personality than most of the female lovers who haunt Tang poetry. Her tone remains mildly suggestive and mocking throughout: her first complaint is that she never got to share her husband’s bed, and she casually compares him to a proverbial dog and chicken. She is aware of how unlucky she is, losing her husband on the very day of their wedding, but by the end of the poem is overcoming her self-pity and facing her future with determination.
Some of the emotive language, and the sonorous “-ang” rhyme that rings throughout the whole poem, suggest to me that this may have been a song, or set to music in some form. The tone of the piece would depend to a great extent on the tenor of the music. For me, this remains an elusive poem.
杜甫 新婚别
菟丝附蓬麻，引蔓故不长。
嫁女与征夫，不如弃路旁。
结发为君妻，席不暖君床。
暮婚晨告别，无乃太匆忙！
君行虽不远，守边赴河阳。
妾身未分明，何以拜姑嫜？
父母养我时，日夜令我藏。
生女有所归，鸡狗亦得将。
君今往死地，沉痛迫中肠。
誓欲随君去，形势反苍黄。
勿为新婚念，努力事戎行！
妇人在军中，兵气恐不扬。
自嗟贫家女，久致罗襦裳。
罗襦不复施，对君洗红妆。
仰视百鸟飞，大小必双翔。
人事多错迕，与君永相望！