— Du Mu
The foe shoot arrows on frontier in autumn day;
The startled grieved wild geese disperse and fly away.
The statue sees their shadows pass beneath the moon bright;
The lonely palace hears their cries in candlelight.
You know the foe would run their horses therefore long.
Could you go back one and all when spring sings its song?
Don’t say few live on Southern rivers up and down!
With water plants the Southern shores are overgrown.
Note
Du Mu (803–852) was a major poet of the Tang Dynasty, known for his lucid style, historical insight, and poignant social concern. While often celebrated for his romantic and nostalgic verses, he also wrote powerful poems addressing the suffering caused by war and frontier conflicts.
His poem “Early Wild Geese” uses migrating geese as a moving symbol for northern refugees fleeing invasion. Set in mid-autumn, the poem opens with a sudden, violent image: barbarian archers along the Jin River draw their bows, scattering flocks of geese in panic – “grief-stricken, flying apart beyond the clouds.”
The geese’s lonely flight continues past iconic landmarks of the Han capital: the bronze “Immortal’s Palm” that once caught dew under moonlight, and the dimly lit halls of Changmen Palace, where abandoned consorts once wept. Their mournful cries echo through these ruins, linking past and present sorrow.
Du Mu then delivers a sobering truth: “You must know – the enemy cavalry swarm everywhere; they won’t simply return with the spring breeze one by one.” Unlike natural migrants, these displaced people (symbolized by the geese) cannot safely go home.
In the final couplet, the poet offers gentle consolation: “Don’t disdain the quiet shores of Xiao and Xiang – there’s plenty of wild rice in the water, and berries on the banks.” Though exile is painful, survival is possible in the south’s fertile wetlands.
Blending realism, compassion, and classical allusion, “Early Wild Geese” is both a lament for wartime displacement and a quiet plea for resilience.
早雁
— 杜牧
金河秋半虏弦开，
云外惊飞四散哀。
仙掌月明孤影过，
长门灯暗数声来。
须知胡骑纷纷在，
岂逐春风一 一回。
莫厌潇湘少人处，
水多菰米岸莓苔。
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