Lament of the Newly Wed
- Poetry of Du Fu

兔丝附蓬麻，引蔓故不长。

嫁女与征夫，不如弃路旁。

结发为君妻，席不暖君床。

暮婚晨告别，无乃太匆忙。

君行虽不远，守边赴河阳。

妾身未分明，何以拜姑嫜。

父母养我时，日夜令我藏。

生女有所归，鸡狗亦得将。

君今往死地，沈痛迫中肠。

誓欲随君去，形势反苍黄。

勿为新婚念，努力事戎行。

妇人在军中，兵气恐不扬。

自嗟贫家女，久致罗襦裳。

罗襦不复施，对君洗红妆。

仰视百鸟飞，大小必双翔。

人事多错迕，与君永相望。

The creeper clinging to the flax is wrong,

For it can’t be expected to grow long.

If a maiden to a soldier is tied

In wedlock, better forsake her by roadside.

My hair dressed up, to you I’m newly wed,

But we have not yet warmed our nuptial bed.

Married last night, at dawn we bid adieu.

Why should I part in such hurry with you?

Though you may not be very far away,

Only in Heyang garrison you’ll stay.

I have not performed the rites of a wife.

How can I serve your parents all my life?

Bred by my parents, I was told it’s right

To hide indoors every day and night.

Oh, I am destined to go to your spouse.

Now you go to a place in face of death,

How can I not utter my painful breath?

I would follow you wherever you go,

But I fear it would bring less weal than woe.

So forget the bride in your family then,

But do your duty as all army men.

If there were women in the camp, I fear,

It’s no good for morale on the frontier.

As a daughter of a poor family,

It’s difficult to get silk robe for me.

But I fear I could not wear it again,

Rougeless and powderless I would remain.

Looking up, I see hundreds of birds fly,

Big or small, all of them in pairs on high.

Why different should be our human fate?

O how long, how long should I for you wait!