Oxen and sheep were brought back down
Long ago, and bramble gates closed. Over
Mountains and rivers, far from my old garden,
A windswept moon rises into clear night.
Springs trickle down dark cliffs, and autumn
Dew fills ridgeline grasses. My hair seems
Whiter in lamplight. The flame flickers
Good fortune over and over — and for what?
“Day’s End” by Tu Fu seems very self-explanatory and literal with the exceptions of the concluding line of each stanza. The first stanza describes how the narrator had brought the “oxen and sheep” down from the pastures. He now sees the moon come up over the “mountains and rivers” in the distance. The second stanza clarifies that aside from the end of the day it is also the end of the summer season. The season is fall, and according to the metaphor of life and the seasons, the man, as shown by his white hair which seems whiter in the artificial light used to replace the sunlight (light of life), is nearing the final stretch of life. The line at the end of the first stanza is problematic in that there is no wind in the vacuum of space. Tu Fu may just be saying that the moon seems to be being pushed by the wind. “Good fortune over and over” could possibly mean that the artificial light gives life to the old man even in his and the world’s declining state (lack of sun and fall season). The old man realizes that he is growing older and may be wondering why the light is giving him false fortune and hope when he should be in a state of decline.
