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秋浦歌 Song of Qiupu

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-12 09:37

秋浦歌 (qīu pǔ gē) Song of Qiupu
李白 (lǐ bái)
白发三千丈 (bái fà sān qiān zhàng)
缘愁似个长 (yuán chóu sì gè cháng)
不知明镜里 (bù zhī míng jìng lǐ)
何处得秋霜 (hé chù dé qīu shuāng)

Long and long grows my white hair,
For in my heart abides an endless care.
When a glance into the mirror I cast,
I wonder from whence comes autumn frost.

Li Bai (AD 701-762) was one of the greatest ancient Chinese poets and lived in the Tang Dynasty (AD618-907). When he wrote this poem, Li was already in his 50s but hadn’t been able to realize his great ambition to rejuvenate the country. As he looked into the mirror, he was saddened to find his hair turning white. In an exaggeration, which he often employed in his poems, Li said that his white hair was 3,000 zhang long — zhang is an old measure about 3m long. Qiupu is a place in today’s Guichi county, Central China’s Anhui province. Wang Jianzhong translated the poem.

China Daily with contribution from 100 Ancient Chinese Poems published by Sinolingua (hyjx@sinolingua.com.cn)