Separation by death must finally be choked down, but separation in life is a long anguish, Chiang-nan is a pestilential land; no word from you there in exile. You have been in my dreams, old friend, as if knowing how much I miss you. Caught in a net, how is it you still have wings? I fear you are no longer mortal; the distance to here is enormous. When your spirit came, the maples were green; when it went, the passes were black. The setting moon spills light on the rafters; for a moment I think it's your face. The waters are deep, the waves wide; don't let the river gods take you.

Another reason identified by the Chinese historian William Hung is that Chinese poems are typically extremely concise omitting circumstantial factors that might be relevant but which could be reconstructed by an informed contemporary. Du Fu's political comments are based on emotion rather than calculation: his prescriptions have been paraphrased as "Let us all be less selfish let us all do what we are supposed to do". His greatest ambition was to serve his country as a successful civil servant but he proved unable to make the necessary accommodations.

Along with Li Bai (Li Bo) he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets. Of his poetic writing nearly fifteen hundred poems have been preserved over the ages. His greatest ambition was to serve his country as a successful civil servant but he proved unable to make the necessary accommodations.