by Tu Fu (712 - 770)
Translation © by Vikram Seth (b. 1952)
哀王孫
Language: Chinese (中文)
長安城頭頭白烏, 夜飛延秋門上呼。 又向人家啄大屋, 屋底達官走避胡。 金鞭斷折九馬死, 骨肉不得同馳驅。 腰下寶玦青珊瑚, 可憐王孫泣路隅。 問之不肯道姓名, 但道困苦乞為奴。 已經百日竄荊棘, 身上無有完肌膚。 高帝子孫盡隆準, 龍種自與常人殊。 豺狼在邑龍在野, 王孫善保千金軀。 不敢長語臨交衢, 且為王孫立斯須。 昨夜東風吹血腥, 東來橐駝滿舊都。 朔方健兒好身手, 昔何勇銳今何愚。 竊聞天子已傳位, 聖德北服南單于。 花門剺面請雪恥, 慎勿出口他人狙。 哀哉王孫慎勿疏, 五陵佳氣無時無。
Authorship:
- by Tu Fu (712 - 770), "哀王孫", subtitle: "杜甫" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Vikram Seth (b. 1952) , "Grieving for the Young Prince", copyright © ; composed by Alec Roth.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2017-12-16
Line count: 28
Word count: 28
Grieving for the Young Prince
Language: English  after the Chinese (中文)
From Changan walls white-headed crows took flight [ ... ]
This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.
Authorship:
- by Vikram Seth (b. 1952), "Grieving for the Young Prince", copyright © [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Tu Fu (712 - 770), "哀王孫", subtitle: "杜甫"
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Alec Roth (b. 1948), "Grieving for the Young Prince", first performed 2006 [tenor, violin, harp and guitar], from Songs in Time of War, no. 2, confirmed with a CD booklet [ sung text verified 1 time]
This text was added to the website: 2017-12-05
Line count: 32
Word count: 269