The Jade Mountain/From an Upper Story

by Du Fu

FROM AN UPPER STORY

Flowers, as high as my window, hurt the heart of a wandererFor I see, from this high vantage, sadness everywhere.The Silken River, bright with spring, floats between earth and heavenLike a line of cloud by the Jade Peak, between ancient days and now.. . . Though the State is established for a while as firm as the North StarAnd bandits dare not venture from the western hills,Yet sorry in the twilight for the woes of a long-vanished Emperor,I am singing the song his Premier sang when still unestranged from the mountain.

(49c)