The Selected Poems of Tu Fu Quotes

“At the edge of heaven, tatters of autumn
Cloud. After ten thousand miles of clear
Lovely morning, the west wind arrives. Here,
Long rains haven't slowed farmers. Frontier

Willows air thin kingfisher colors, and
Red fruit flecks mountain pears. As a flute's
Mongol song drifts from a tower, one
Goose climbs clear through vacant skies.”
― Tu Fu, The Selected Poems of Tu Fu

“it’s all one single grief.”
― Du Fu, The Selected Poems of Tu Fu: Expanded and Newly Translated by David Hinton

“News comes from nowhere.”
― Du Fu, The Selected Poems of Tu Fu: Expanded and Newly Translated by David Hinton

“Who changes, who even slows this dead dazzling drunk in the wings of life we live?”
― Du Fu, The Selected Poems of Tu Fu: Expanded and Newly Translated by David Hinton

“Two yellow orioles sing under emerald willows
One line of White Egrets ascends clear skies
Window frames Western riged snow of a thousand autumns
Door moors Eastern Wu a boat of ten-thousand li”
― Du Fu, The Selected Poems of Tu Fu

“Here by the winding streamlet, among the sighing winds, old gray mice scurry over the roof-tiles. No one any more remembers the Prince's name who built this palace under overhanging cliffs.

In darkened rooms you can see green ghost fires...from the flutes of the forest you can hear a thousand voices. The young palace ladies of long ago are in their yellow graves...then why are painted scrolls still hanging on the wall? The charioteers and their gold chariots are crumbled...then why are stone horses, carved in olden days, standing yet?

Sadness sits on the grass. I sing the story, but I am heavy with sorrow...among all these paths that we may walk along into the distance, which one will ever carry us to Life Forever?”
― Tu Fu, The Selected Poems of Tu Fu