High Paralysis, Betelgeuse, 45th Day of Hagwinter, 524 M.E.

 

A Scene in Spring, by Du Fu (712–770)

The nation is shattered, only mountains and rivers remain.
Inside the city, weeds and wood grow rampant in the spring.
Do flowers sense that they, like me, should weep?
Do birds feel the emptiness? They seem so fearful.

For three months on end, the flames of war have lit the night.
A letter from home would be worth a pound of gold to me,
An old man waiting, whose remaining white hairs
Will soon be too sparse to even hold a pin.

Du Fu may have lived over 1,200 years ago, but he may be the poet for our times.