Sh i P oe t ry oF t He m i ng anD q i ng Dy na s t i e s 36332 Xiang Ping regrets that he has an offspring. 向平憾有嗣 (xiàng píng hàn yŏu sì)
A kingdom’s beauty is abandoned to a servant, 國色委菜傭 (guó sè wĕi cài yōng)
34 While gold ends up in a dirty privy. 黃金歸溷廁 (huáng jīn guī hùn cè)
Going into the mountain, one fears it’s not deep enough, 入山恐不深 (rù shān kŏng bù shēn)
36 But the deeper one goes, the more goblins. 愈深愈多祟 (yù shēn yù duō suì)
In the mountains there are Robin Hoods, 內有綠林豪 (nèi yŏu lù lín háo)
38 While back there rebels roam. 外有黃金輩 (wài yŏu huáng jīn bèi)
One is attacked wherever one is, 表裏俱受攻 (biăo lĭ jù shòu gōng)
40 First the stomach is injured, then the back. 傷腹更傷背 (shāng fŭ gèng shāng bèi)
Then we worry when the government soldiers come, 又慮官兵入 (yòu lǜ guān bīng rù)
42 Much of the fluid in the pitcher will be wasted on them. 壺浆多所費 (hú jiāng duō suŏ fèi)
It may yet be easy to satisfy the bandits, 賊心猶易厭 (zéi xīn yóu yì yàn)
44 But the soldiers’ goals are harder to fulfill. 兵志更難遂 (bīng zhì gèng nán suì)
Though we encounter robbers in this disordered age, 亂世遇萑苻 (luàn shì yù huán fú)
46 We avoid using their methods. 其道利用諱 (qí dào lì yòng huì)
Pity those of us in the mountains, 可憐山中人 (kĕ lián shān zhōng rén)
48 Every moment befriending mountain demons. 刻刻友魑魅 (kè kè yŏu chī mèi)
The wealthy die from hunger and cold, 飢寒死素封 (jī hán sĭ sù fēng)
50 In grief and anxiety even children turn aged. 憂愁老童穉 (yōu chóu lăo tóng zhì)
In human life one hopes to meet with the right time, 人生貴逢時 (rén shēng guì féng shí)
52 For if the world is auspicious, people will be auspicious. 世瑞人即瑞 (shì ruì rén jí ruì)
Since we are people of a disordered age, 既為亂世人 (jì wéi luàn shì rén)
54 We are no different from the ants. 蜉蝣即同類 (fú yóu jí tóng lèi)
In vain we fugitives run hither and thither, 難民徒紛紛 (nàn mín tú fēn fēn)
56 But how can we escape Heaven’s way? 天道胡可避 (tiān dào hú kĕ bì)
[QSJS 4.2372–2373]
Li Yu begins the poem by explicitly referring to Du Fu’s war poems as a foil to
the severity of the present situation (lines 1–14). In times of peace, he had thought
that Du Fu had exaggerated the turmoil of the An Lushan Rebellion in his poems.
But Li Yu now realizes that his previous reading was erroneous. When Du Fu’s
poems are read against the present peril that Li Yu is experiencing all around him,
he finds them to be insufficient expressions of the horrors of war. After noting how
he and other local people hesitated when the battles began between whether to
stay put or try to escape from the disaster besetting their area (bi nan), Li Yu turns
to describe what clinched people’s decision to leave—the rampant and continual
violence inflicted by soldiers and bandits alike. Lines 21–26 are structured with
repetitions of “bandits” and “soldiers” that emphasize their mutual substitutability
and the recurrence of violence. This repetitive pattern is picked up again in lines
37–46 and produces an overall parodic and theatrical effect. The poem also em-
phasizes the inversion of values and twists of fate in times of disorder. In lines 31
and 32, Bodao is the style name of Deng You of the Jin. During the Yongjia period
(307–313), when he was trying to escape from a mutiny into the mountains with
his small son and nephew, he altruistically gave up his son when he could not pro-