Stone Niche (Du Fu)

by Du Fu
(translated by D. Mair)

A bear is roaring to the left of me
A catamount is howling on my right
Behind me run wailing ghosts
Before me are screeching monkeys.
Wind blows cold under gloomy sky,
A cart track obscure in deep mountains,
I pull up beneath Stone Niche
And witness a midwinter rainbow.
Who comes singing up the switchback?
A bamboo cutter’s sad voice draws near.
Five years of cutting prime young stems
To keep the Hebei armory supplied,
What happens once the true shafts are gone?
How to stay on the taxman’s good side then?
Helpless against the tempest from Yuyang,
Horsemen raging down upon good folk.