佳人
杜甫
绝代有佳人,幽居在空谷。
自云良家子,零落依草木。
关中昔丧乱,兄弟遭杀戮。
官高何足论,不得收骨肉。
世情恶衰歇,万事随转烛。
夫婿轻薄儿,新人美如玉。
合昏尚知时,鸳鸯不独宿。
但见新人笑,那闻旧人哭。
在山泉水清,出山泉水浊。
侍婢卖珠回,牵萝补茅屋。
摘花不插发,采柏动盈掬。
天寒翠袖薄,日暮倚修竹。
A Woman of Extreme Beauty
Du Fu
She’s the Age’s woman of extreme beauty,
Living secluded by a wild valley.
She says she came from a good family
And lived here when reduced to poverty.
Formerly, in the Guanzhong disturbance
Her brothers were killed in horrible violence.
To be high-rank officials is nothing coveted;
Collection of their bodies wasn’t permitted.
It is the world’s way to dislike decline;
Things will follow the candle where it’s to shine.
Her husband is a fellow unfaithful,
His new mistress is like jade beautiful.
The flowers of silk trees their time still can keep,
And mandarin ducks never singly sleep.
He sees only the smile of his new dear;
But the cry of his old love he won’t hear.
While in the mountain, clean is the fountain;
And it is soiled, once out of the mountain.
When her maid comes back, raising on pearls a mortgage,
She will with vine mend her thatched cottage.
She plucks flowers, which she doesn’t stick in her hair,
And cypress, full to the hold of her hands fair.
In cold days she feels her green sleeves thinner;
At dusk she leans against the bamboo slender.