University of Virginia Library

Seven-character-regular-verse
Du Fu POETIC THOUGHTS ON ANCIENT SITES II

"Decay and decline": deep knowledge have I of Sung Yu's grief.
Romantic and refined, he too is my teacher.
Sadly looking across a thousand autumns, one shower of tears,
Melancholy in different epochs, not at the same time.
Among rivers and mountains his old abode--empty his writings;
Deserted terrace of cloud and rain--surely not just imagined in a dream?
Utterly the palaces of Chu are all destroyed and ruined,
The fishermen pointing them out today are unsure.