Self-Reflection - Lu You
/自咏 - 陆游/
Where Aging Vigor and Unbowed Will Converge
【Important Note on Historical Authenticity】
No well-attested historical anthology confirms a poem by Lu You (1125–1210) explicitly titled “自咏” (“Self-Reflection”). While it was not uncommon for classical Chinese poets to compose works under headings such as “自咏” (literally “chanting of oneself,” or a poem about oneself), **no definitive record** links such a title to Lu You in major collections. The text below is thus offered as a **representative reconstruction**, reflecting themes and stylistic elements typical of Lu You’s poetry, rather than a verified historical source.
【Reconstructed Chinese Text】
自咏
短褐当风鬓已华，
犹怀北望志如霞。
贫居尚有诗书债，
老去真成岁月赊。
一片初心尘不染，
千回梦里马蹄沙。
江村落日闲门外，
灯火春阑更咏嗟。
【Literal English Rendering (Line by Line)】
Self-Reflection
My coarse robe flutters in the wind, white now streaks my temples;
Still, my longing to reclaim the northern lands burns like clouds at sunset.
In these humble lodgings, I remain indebted to poetry and books;
Advancing age truly feels like borrowed years slipping away.
Yet my original resolve stays unsullied by worldly dust;
A thousand times in dreams, I hear warhorses galloping on sandy plains.
At dusk by the river village, beyond my idle gate,
I sit by lamplight in the lingering spring, chanting with a sigh.
No well-attested historical anthology confirms a poem by Lu You (1125–1210) explicitly titled “自咏” (“Self-Reflection”). While it was not uncommon for classical Chinese poets to compose works under headings such as “自咏” (literally “chanting of oneself,” or a poem about oneself), **no definitive record** links such a title to Lu You in major collections. The text below is thus offered as a **representative reconstruction**, reflecting themes and stylistic elements typical of Lu You’s poetry, rather than a verified historical source.
【Reconstructed Chinese Text】
自咏
短褐当风鬓已华，
犹怀北望志如霞。
贫居尚有诗书债，
老去真成岁月赊。
一片初心尘不染，
千回梦里马蹄沙。
江村落日闲门外，
灯火春阑更咏嗟。
【Literal English Rendering (Line by Line)】
Self-Reflection
My coarse robe flutters in the wind, white now streaks my temples;
Still, my longing to reclaim the northern lands burns like clouds at sunset.
In these humble lodgings, I remain indebted to poetry and books;
Advancing age truly feels like borrowed years slipping away.
Yet my original resolve stays unsullied by worldly dust;
A thousand times in dreams, I hear warhorses galloping on sandy plains.
At dusk by the river village, beyond my idle gate,
I sit by lamplight in the lingering spring, chanting with a sigh.
This **reconstructed** poem imagines Lu You composing a piece of self-reflection (“自咏”). While not definitively part of his corpus, it captures key elements that commonly emerge in his authentic works:
1. **Patriotic Yearning**
- The line “Still, my longing to reclaim the northern lands burns like clouds at sunset” echoes Lu You’s well-documented desire to see the occupied regions of China reunited under the Southern Song. This fierce aspiration recurs in many of his verified poems.
2. **Humble Circumstances**
- Phrases like “coarse robe” and “humble lodgings” evoke his modest lifestyle. Despite once hoping for military distinction, he frequently found himself in more rustic or scholarly settings, penning verses instead of leading campaigns.
3. **Borrowed Years, Unfinished Business**
- “Advancing age truly feels like borrowed time” is reminiscent of Lu You’s many poems that lament his failing strength and the unfulfilled patriotic mission. The poet’s sense of urgent, unfinished duty pervades even his pastoral or domestic reflections.
4. **Indebted to Poetry and Books**
- Lu You saw literature as both solace and moral imperative, repeatedly referencing his reliance on scholarly pursuits to sustain the ideals he could not realize on the battlefield.
5. **Nightly Remembrance**
- “A thousand times in dreams, I hear warhorses galloping” directly recalls some of his best-known lines (e.g., “铁马冰河入梦来”). That repeated motif—that even in repose he imagines martial exploits—underscores the lifelong persistence of his hopes.
Though **not** an authenticated Lu You poem, these reconstructed lines represent how he might have captured a personal moment—conveying simultaneously his disappointment with time’s passing and his unwavering patriotic spirit. The final image of him chanting “with a sigh” by lamplight ties together the stoic acceptance of old age with a poet’s refusal to let dreams be extinguished.
Key points
• Merges hallmark Lu You themes: rural simplicity, lifelong patriotism, aging regret.
• Balances introspection on personal circumstances (coarse robes, dusty hair) with martial dreams (northern reconquest).
• Concludes on a muted but resolute note, spotlighting how poetry remains a vessel for unachieved ambitions.
• Serves as a **creative homage** to Lu You’s style, illustrating how he might have penned a poem of self-portraiture (自咏).
