The Knopf poet and translator David Young writes of Tang dynasty poet Du Fu (712–770), “As his society, one of the world’s greatest civilizations, slipped from a golden age into chaos and uncertainty, he responded imaginatively, with poems whose excellence still startles us. His unique development is partly a matter of artistic growth . . . and partly the response of the imagination to what Wallace Stevens called ‘the pressure of reality.’” In these lonely but somehow uplifting lines, written during a period of war and rebellion at midcentury, Du Fu is hiding in the Dayun (Buddhist) monastery in the capital, probably, Young tells us, to avoid being conscripted by rebel forces. (He adds that the constellation the poet refers to is Jade String, more or less our Big Dipper.)
In the Abbot’s Cell
I lie awake and watch
the flicker of the lamp
delicate odor of incense
helps to clear my thoughts
mostly filled with darkness
the central hall looms large
sound of a wind chime
tinkling below the eaves
The flowers just outside
are all invisible
but I can smell their fragrance
here in the quiet dark
one of the constellations
is setting behind the roof
passing the iron phoenix
fixed at the temple’s peak
Pretty soon the monks
will start to chant their sutras
the bell calls them to prayer
I stay in bed
before very long I’ll have to rise
and walk across plowed fields
facing the dust and wind
facing my fears and griefs.