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Tu Shen-yen (646–708) was a native of Hsiangyang in Hupei province and moved with his father to Kunghsien, east of Loyang, which was where his grandson, Tu Fu, was born. He held important posts in the court of Empress Wu Tse-t’ien (r. 684–705) but was better known for his poetry and calligraphy and is considered one of the founders of T’ang-style verse. Following Empress Wu’s death he fell out of favor, and in 705 he was exiled to what is now North Vietnam. He was soon recalled and given a sinecure in the capital, but the experience had a major effect on the poetry of his final years. Here, apparently during his banishment to the South, he responds to a poem by his friend Lu Yuan-fang, who had served as prime minister during the reign of Empress Wu and who had retired to his home in Chinling (Changchou) on the Grand Canal. Lu’s poem (now lost) noted how much earlier spring appeared south of the Yangtze than in the capital. Tu begins by referring to himself as a huan-yu (impotent official), which was a term officials often used out of humility but also when they were sent off to the provinces. By itself, huan refers to a palace eunuch. Tu’s use of the term underlines his political status and loss of faith in the world’s power of renewal, as well as the government’s inability to break free of the chains of tradition. Thus, he is surprised by spring. The orioles remind him of his wife back in the capital, but the rootless duckweed reminds him of his life on the road. And the familiar tune is the poem to which he replies.

Replying to a Poem by Prime Minister Lu of Chinling

TU SHEN-YEN

Only an impotent official

is truly surprised when things become new

red clouds giving birth to the ocean dawn

plums and willows ferrying spring across the river

clear skies inciting yellow birds

sunshine turning duckweed green

suddenly hearing a familiar tune

I think of home and dry my eyes