Wang Wei: Sitting Alone on an Autumn Evening, Missing My Relative: Young Brother Cui Xingzong

Sitting Alone On an Autumn Evening, Missing My Relative: Young Brother Cui Xingzong

秋 夜 独 坐 怀 内 弟 崔 兴 宗

夜 静 群 动 息
蟪 蛄 声 悠 悠。
庭 槐 北 风 响
日 夕 方 高 秋。

思 子 整 羽 翮
及 时 当 云 浮。
吾 生 将 白 首
岁 晏 思 沧 州。
高 足 在 旦 暮
肯 为 南 亩 俦。

Qiu Ye Du Zuo Huai Nei Di Cui Xing Zong

Ye jing qun dong xi
Hui gu sheng you you.
Ting huai bei feng xiang
Ri xi fang gao qiu.

Si zi zheng you he
Ji shi dang yun fu.
Wu sheng jiang bai shou
Sui yan si cang zhou.
Gao zu zai dan mu
Ken wei nan mu chou.

Sitting Alone On an Autumn Evening, Missing One’s Relative:
Young Brother Cui Xingzong

Night silent and calm, all living things at rest
Except cicada sounds, very remote and numerous.
Front courtyard, north wind echoes though the acacia trees
Autumn sunset, the sky very high.

Thinking of Cui Xingzong arranging his feathered wings
In time, his work will float and soar like the clouds.
For me, it is time to care for white hair
And live out life next to mountains and clear waters.
With rolled up pant legs, working only in the early morning and near dusk
I yearn to dwell in rural seclusion.

Notes:

Feathered wings:  Wang’s brother, Cui, is about to start his adulthood and working life.  He has traveled to the capital to begin his career as a government bureaucrat.