Ballad of an Old Cypress

古柏行

Ballad of an Old Cypress

杜甫

by, Du Fu

Translated by Stephen Owen

孔明廟前有老柏，柯如青銅根如石。

In front of the shrine of Zhu-ge Liang there was an aging cypress, it boughs were like green bronze, its roots were like the stone.

霜皮溜雨四十圍，黛色參天二千尺。

It's frosted bared was streaked by the rains forty armspans round, dark arch of mascara touching sky two thousand feet above.

君臣已與時際會，樹木猶為人愛惜。

Already the minister and his lord have met their moment, yet still is this tree cherished by men.

雲來氣接巫峽長，月出寒通雪山白。

When clouds come, its vapors touch the full length of Wu Gorges; as the moon appears, its chill reaches the white of the Mountains of Snow.

憶昨路繞錦亭東，先主武侯同閟宮。

I think back now where the road wound east of Brocade Pavilion, where the Ruler of Shu and his Warrior Count share a common shrine.

崔嵬枝幹郊原古，窈窕丹青戶牖空。

Trunk and branches loomed high there, ancient upon the meadows, with paintings dark and hidden away through the empty doors and windows.

落落盤踞雖得地，冥冥孤高多烈風。

Spreading wide, roots coiled and clasped-- but though it found firm place, high and alone in the black of sky there are many violent storms.

扶持自是神明力，正直原因造化功。

Surely that which holds it up is the might of some bright god; its upright straightness is finally due to the deed of the Fashioner.

大廈如傾要梁棟，萬牛回首丘山重。

If some great mansion should collapse and they needed rafters and beams, ten thousand oxen would turn their heads at its weight, which is a mountain's.

不露文章世已驚，未辭翦伐誰能送。

Even before it shows its grain, all the world is amazed; it would not object to being cut, but who would be able to send it?

苦心豈免容螻蟻，香葉終經宿鸞鳳。

It's bitter core cannot keep out intrusions of termites, yet its fragrant leaves have ever given a night's lodging to the phoenix.

志士幽人莫怨嗟，古來材大難為用。

Let neither sigh-- not the man of grand aims nor the man who lives hidden away-- it has always been true that the greatest timber is hardest to put to use.

Owen, Stephen. "Ballad of an Old Cypress." An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911. New York: W.W. Norton, 1996. 432-33. Print.

My reflections:

Reading this poem again, I still can't fully grasp the last clause of this poem.  Owen mentions in the preceding paragraph how "才" (talent or innate ability) is a pun for "材" (timber).  I noticed this time the metaphor he used for talent as something alive, not dead timber.  Although this tree is incredibly old, its existence exudes an essence that the living still appreciate.

Through the vicissitudes and ravages of time, what may be en vogue one moment may become passe.  What we know to be simple truth is difficult to fit into our complex world.

This is why I love looking back into ancient poetry.  The essence of the truisms it emits from the past tell us what to value in the present.

I'd also like to dedicate this poem to my friend's new Bonsai tree, Kirk!