绝句絕句

Two orioles, a line of egrets, ancient snow and waiting ships — a window framed into a poem.

liǎng两gě个huáng lí黄鹂míng鸣cuì翠liǔ柳，

yī xíng一行bái lù白鹭shǎng上qīng tiān青天。

chuāng窗hán含xī西líng岭qiān qiū千秋xuě雪，

mén门bó泊Dōng Wú东吴wàn lǐ万里chuán船。

The poet & the story

Du Fu (712–770), revered as the “Sage of Poetry”, wrote this in a rare peaceful interlude at his thatched cottage in Chengdu around 764, after years of war and displacement. The cottage is now one of China’s most visited literary shrines.

Interpretation

Two golden orioles sing in green willows; a line of white egrets climbs the blue sky. His window frames the eternal snow of the western ranges; at his gate moor boats that could sail ten thousand li east to Wu. The quatrain is a masterclass in colour and framing — and beneath the stillness, those distant boats hint at a longing to finally go home.