Home › Poems › Thoughts While Traveling at Night
Lǚ Yè Shū HuáiThoughts While Traveling at Night 旅夜书怀
Du Fu sees himself as a lone gull between heaven and earth.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
细草微风岸
xì cǎo wēi fēng àn
危樯独夜舟
wēi qiáng dú yè zhōu
星垂平野阔
xīng chuí píng yě kuò
月涌大江流
yuè yǒng dà jiāng liú
名岂文章著
míng qǐ wén zhāng zhù
官应老病休
guān yīng lǎo bìng xiū
飘飘何所似
piāo piāo hé suǒ shì
天地一沙鸥
tiān dì yī shā ōu
Simplified characters; traditional title: 旅夜書懷.
English translation
A bank of fine grass in the light breeze;
A tall mast alone on the night boat.
Stars hang over the vast plain;
The moon surges with the flowing great river.
How could my name rise from letters alone?
Old and sick, I should quit my post.
Drifting, drifting — what am I like?
A lone gull between heaven and earth.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
The first couplet is small and close; the second, one of Du Fu's greatest, opens to the vastness of stars over the plain and the moon rolling on the river's current. Against that, he reflects bitterly that literary fame seems unlikely and his career is over. The final image — a single sand gull adrift between heaven and earth — gathers all his loneliness into one figure.
Background
Written in 765 after Du Fu left Chengdu and traveled down the Yangtze by boat.
Key words
- 危樯 wēi qiáng
- a tall mast
- 月涌 yuè yǒng
- the moon surging
- 飘飘 piāo piāo
- drifting
- 沙鸥 shā ōu
- a sand gull
About the poet: Du Fu
Du Fu (also romanized Tu Fu) lived through the An Lushan Rebellion, which tore apart the Tang empire and his own family life. His precise, compassionate poems record war, poverty and loyalty, earning him the titles "Sage of Poetry" and "poet-historian."
Lifetime: 712–770. Other famous works: Happy Rain on a Spring Night (春夜喜雨); The Prime Minister of Shu (蜀相); The Officer at Shihao Village (石壕吏); Thoughts While Traveling at Night (旅夜书怀); Qujiang (曲江); Meeting Li Guinian in Jiangnan (江南逢李龟年); Ballad of the Army Carts (兵车行); Moonlit Night (月夜); Spring View (春望); Climbing High (登高); Quatrain: Two Orioles (绝句·两个黄鹂鸣翠柳); On Yueyang Tower (登岳阳楼); My Thatched Hut Torn by the Autumn Wind (茅屋为秋风所破歌); Gazing at Mount Tai (望岳); A Guest Arrives (客至); Strolling by the River V (江畔独步寻花 其五); Strolling Alone by the River in Search of Flowers (江畔独步寻花); River Village (江村); Winter Solstice Eve (小至); Thinking of Li Bai on a Spring Day (春日忆李白); Easing the Heart by the Water Rail (水槛遣心); Quatrain (绝句); Casual Quatrain (绝句漫兴); For General Hua (赠花卿).
Names from this poem
More by Du Fu
- Spring View春望
- Quatrain (The River Blue)绝句
- Climbing High登高
- On Yueyang Tower登岳阳楼
- Moonlit Night月夜
- Happy Rain on a Spring Night春夜喜雨
- Meeting Li Guinian in Jiangnan江南逢李龟年
- Qujiang曲江