Qiang Village: Three Poems (Part III) - Du Fu
/羌村三首(其三) - 杜甫/
When Warfare Continues and Sorrow Shrouds Home
兵戈既未息，
Warfare has yet to cease,
儿童尽东征。
All the children have gone east to fight.
白骨成丘山，
White bones now rise like hills,
素车互僝僽。
Pale carriages creak under sorrow’s weight.
悲风连夜起，
A mournful wind blows through the night,
凉月向晨悬。
And a cool moon lingers till the break of dawn.
君听此哀怨，
O lord, heed these cries of anguish,
并在歌吟中。
For they echo within our songs.
This final installment of Du Fu’s “Qiang Village” trilogy highlights the lingering toll of war on ordinary families. By setting a somber scene in which conflict persists and children are conscripted to fight in distant battles, the poem underscores how unrelenting warfare erodes both the land and the spirit. The once-familiar image of home has been replaced by piles of bleached bones and sorrow-laden carts—visual metaphors for the heavy burdens that communities bear.
Nature plays an equally dramatic role: the ‘mournful wind’ blowing through the night and the moon lingering until morning help intensify the sense of unyielding gloom. Yet Du Fu’s focus remains on those left behind, compelled to witness ongoing devastation without reprieve. His plea in the closing lines—asking the reader or a “lord” to hear these cries—extends beyond a literal request. It is a call for empathy and attention to the human cost of war, woven directly into the poem’s ‘song.’
Throughout, Du Fu’s language retains both directness and poetic elegance, mirroring the starkness of the subject. The poem suggests that anguish cannot be sealed off from culture or expression; rather, it permeates the people’s songs, turning personal grief into a collective testament. By weaving everyday suffering into lyricism, Du Fu ensures that such pain is neither trivialized nor overlooked. This short but potent work has resonated through the ages precisely because it lays bare the intimate emotional burden that large-scale conflict imposes on entire communities.
Key points
Du Fu portrays the profound disruption war inflicts on village life, using vivid images of mounting casualties and ceaseless sorrow. In just a handful of lines, he conveys how warfare bleeds into every corner of existence—physical, emotional, and cultural. The poem reminds us that conflict leaves scars not only on those who fight but also on those who remain, often powerless in its wake.
