44.

Autumn Thoughts

Zheng Chaolin thinks back on the early war years, which he spent in Anhui, and his taking leave of his friends in Anhui. He returned to Shanghai in the winter of 1940 on board a boat by way of Ningbo, to resume his political work.

To the tune of ‘Autumn Meditations’5 (two of a suite of eight poems)

In the depths of autumn, among falling leaves,

the sumptuous feast for the first time sees the crescent brows,

natural white skin and bright red cheeks,

long dress, short coat, to put the final touch. 4

Walking at a steady pace along the moonlit street,

lingering on the riverbank to take the breeze,

we were in those years of one heart and mind,

but now our temple hairs are as white twine. 8

Taking up book and sword, I left behind my native place.

On the river, the autumn air turns slowly dull and drear.

We gather in the county town to hold a farewell feast –

my feelings for the island remain fervent and intense. 12

The October frost has not yet fallen on the southern peaks,

where the glow of the equator burns throughout the year.

The boat cuts through the foaming waters of the Red Sea –

only now do I rejoice, feeling the snow and bitter hail. 16

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‘To the tune of’: The name of a set of eight poems by Du Fu.

Line 8: Bai Juyi has a line, to which Zheng here vaguely alludes, lamenting his white and stringy hair and his ‘failure in life and in his cause’.

Line 10: There are echoes here of Du Fu’s ‘Autumn Meditations’.

Line 12: In Anhui, Zheng longs to return to his political base in Shanghai, which was known as the ‘lonely island’ until the outbreak of the Pacific War at the end of 1941.

Line 16: It is not clear what Zheng means here, unless this is a garbled reference to the Israelites’ crossing of the Red Sea under Moses.