This poem was written by Du Fu in 754. He was a Chinese poet and politician of the Tang dynasty.
Alan Steinle (Alan’s work) and I worked on the translation together.
秋雨叹三首 (一)
雨中百草秋烂死
阶下决明颜色鲜
著叶满枝翠羽盖
开花无数黄金钱
凉风萧萧吹汝急
恐汝后时难独立
堂上书生空白头
临风三嗅馨香泣
The grass has decayed from all the rain we’ve seen,
But the cassia below the steps remains bright green.
Your feather-like leaves escaped the autumn showers;
Like golden coins are your many blooming flowers.
You can feel the bitter wind’s persistent attack;
Can your stalk endure the force, or will it crack?
Above the steps, I let down my graying hair;
I smell the fragrant cassia, but I feel despair.
Flicker of Thoughts 
This is awesome. And sad 😔
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Indeed, it is a sad poem
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So bittersweet. Thank you for sharing it.
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Du Fu wrote many short poems. Most of his poems contain both a particular emotion and something about nature that reflects the writer’s life (and perhaps the reader’s life also). They are like Polaroid snapshots of a particular time. In this poem, the natural element is the cassia plant, and I think Du Fu realizes that he is a survivor, like the plant, but he also realizes that the lucky plant under the porch, though it survived the autumn rains, will not survive the winter.
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I love his poetry as they are about little things with grand metaphors of life and current affairs.
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