The Solitary Goose

The Solitary Goose
Du Fu

孤雁

孤雁不饮啄
飞鸣声念群
谁联一片影
相失万重云
望尽似犹见
哀多如更闻
野鸭无意绪
鸣噪亦纷纷

gū yàn

gū yàn bù yǐn zhuó
fēi míng shēng niàn qún
shuí líng yī piàn yǐng
xiāng shī wàn chóng yún
wàng jìn sì yóu jiàn
āi duō rú gèng wén
yě yā wú yì xù
míng zào yì fēn fēn 

 

Solitary goose not drink peck
Fly call sound miss flock
Who remember one now shadow
Mutual lose myriad layer cloud
Look utmost seem as if look
Distressed much like become hear
Wild duck without state of mind
Call voices also numerous and confused

 

The solitary goose does not drink or eat,
It flies about and calls, missing the flock.
No-one now remembers this one shadow,
They've lost each other in the myriad layers of cloud.
It looks into the distance: seems to see,
It's so distressed, it thinks that it can hear.
Unconsciously, the wild ducks start to call,
Cries of birds are everywhere confused.

 

The poem appears both in characters, pinyin, gloss and English translation; 

 

 Du Fu (also known as Tu Fu) - [712- 770] 

 widely acknowledged as the finest of the classical Chinese poets,

 gave his poems a particularly sensitive feeling for humanity. 

Du Fu wrote in the High Tang period his work being very diverse, 

but his most characteristic poems are autobiographical and historical, 

recording the effects of war and vicissitudes on his own life.