Du Fu: The Conscripting Officers At Shihao 杜甫 暮投石壕 有吏夜捉人 Poem by Frank Yue

- Du Fu (Tang Dynasty)
- Translated by Frank C Yue

I came to Shihao Village in the evening;
An official with a press-gang barged in at night.
An old man scrambled over the wall and took flight!
His wife opened the door to see what was happening.
The officers were shouting, swearing angrily;
Aggrieved, the old woman cried bitterly -
Taken as soldiers, you see,
Were all my sons three -
At Yecheng: One of them wrote to me
And said two of his brothers were killed recently.
The survivors tried their best to live on,
Whilst dead men were long gone.

In this house there's no one except my baby
Grandson suckled by his mother only;
She doesn't even have enough clothing to cover herself!
Now, though I am a weak woman old,
Take me with you tonight, so
I can cook breakfast for the troops
At the Heyang battleground.
As the night wore on, the sound
Of voices faded away,
But low sobbing seemed to stay.
At daybreak, I rose to continue on my journey;
There to say farewell was the old man only.


(2020.11.11 - on Canada's Remembrance Day)


石壕吏
- 唐 杜甫


暮投石壕村，有吏夜捉人。
老翁逾牆走，老婦出門看。
吏呼一何怒，婦啼一何苦。
聽婦前致詞，三男鄴城戍。
一男附書至，二男新戰死。
存者且偷生，死者長已矣。

室中更無人，惟有乳下孫。
有孫母未去，出入無完裙。
老嫗力雖衰，請從吏夜歸。
急應河陽役，猶得備晨炊。
夜久語聲絕，如聞泣幽咽。
天明登前途，獨與老翁別。