A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems Part 20

REMEMBERING GOLDEN BELLS

Ruined and ill,--a man of two score; Pretty and guileless,--a girl of three.

Not a boy,--but, still better than nothing: To soothe one's feeling,--from time to time a kiss!

There came a day,--they suddenly took her from me; Her soul's shadow wandered I know not where.

And when I remember how just at the time she died She lisped strange sounds, beginning to learn to talk, _Then_ I know that the ties of flesh and blood Only bind us to a load of grief and sorrow.

At last, by thinking of the time before she was born, By thought and reason I drove the pain away.

Since my heart forgot her, many days have pa.s.sed And three times winter has changed to spring.

This morning, for a little, the old grief came back, Because, in the road, I met her foster-nurse.

ILLNESS

Sad, sad--lean with long illness; Monotonous, monotonous--days and nights pa.s.s.

The summer trees have clad themselves in shade; The autumn "lan"[51] already houses the dew.

The eggs that lay in the nest when I took to bed Have changed into little birds and flown away.

The worm that then lay hidden in its hole Has hatched into a cricket sitting on the tree.

The Four Seasons go on for ever and ever: In all Nature nothing stops to rest Even for a moment. Only the sick man's heart Deep down still aches as of old!

[51] The epidendrum.

THE DRAGON OF THE BLACK POOL

A SATIRE

Deep the waters of the Black Pool, coloured like ink; They say a Holy Dragon lives there, whom men have never seen.

Beside the Pool they have built a shrine; the authorities have established a ritual; A dragon by itself remains a dragon, but men can make it a G.o.d.

Prosperity and disaster, rain and drought, plagues and pestilences-- By the village people were all regarded as the Sacred Dragon's doing.

They all made offerings of sucking-pig and poured libations of wine; The morning prayers and evening gifts depended on a "medium's"

advice

When the dragon comes, ah!

The wind stirs and sighs Paper money thrown, ah!

Silk umbrellas waved.

When the dragon goes, ah!

The wind also--still.

Incense-fire dies, ah!

The cups and vessels are cold.[52]

[52] Parody of a famous Han dynasty hymn.

Meats lie stacked on the rocks of the Pool's sh.o.r.e; Wine flows on the gra.s.s in front of the shrine.

I do not know, of all those offerings, how much the Dragon eats; But the mice of the woods and the foxes of the hills are continually drunk and sated.

Why are the foxes so lucky?

What have the sucking-pigs done, That year by year _they_ should be killed, merely to glut the foxes?

That the foxes are robbing the Sacred Dragon and eating His sucking-pig, Beneath the nine-fold depths of His pool, does He know or not?

THE GRAIN TRIBUTE

Written _circa_ 812, showing one of the poet's periods of retirement.

When the officials come to receive his grain-tribute, he remembers that he is only giving back what he had taken during his years of office.

Salaries were paid partly in kind.

There came an officer knocking by night at my door-- In a loud voice demanding grain-tribute.

My house-servants dared not wait till the morning, But brought candles and set them on the barn-floor.

Pa.s.sed through the sieve, clean-washed as pearls, A whole cart-load, thirty bushels of grain.

But still they cry that it is not paid in full: With whips and curses they goad my servants and boys.

Once, in error, I entered public life; I am inwardly ashamed that my talents were not sufficient.

In succession I occupied four official posts; For doing nothing,--ten years' salary!

Often have I heard that saying of ancient men That "good and ill follow in an endless chain."

And to-day it ought to set my heart at rest To return to others the corn in my great barn.

THE PEOPLE OF TAO-CHOU

In the land of Tao-chou Many of the people are dwarfs; The tallest of them never grow to more than three feet.

They were sold in the market as dwarf slaves and yearly sent to Court; Described as "an offering of natural products from the land of Tao-chou."

A strange "offering of natural products"; I never heard of one yet That parted men from those they loved, never to meet again!

Old men--weeping for their grandsons; mothers for their children!

One day--Yang Ch'eng came to govern the land; He refused to send up dwarf slaves in spite of incessant mandates.

He replied to the Emperor "Your servant finds in the Six Canonical Books 'In offering products, one must offer what is there, and not what isn't there'

On the waters and lands of Tao-chou, among all the things that live I only find dwarfish _people_; no dwarfish _slaves_."

The Emperor's heart was deeply moved and he sealed and sent a scroll "The yearly tribute of dwarfish slaves is henceforth annulled."

The people of Tao-chou, Old ones and young ones, how great their joy!

Father with son and brother with brother henceforward kept together; From that day for ever more they lived as free men.

The people of Tao-chou Still enjoy this gift.

And even now when they speak of the Governor Tears start to their eyes.

And lest their children and their children's children should forget the Governor's name, When boys are born the syllable "Yang" is often used in their forename.

THE OLD HARP

Of cord and ca.s.sia-wood is the harp compounded: Within it lie ancient melodies.

Ancient melodies--weak and savourless, Not appealing to present men's taste.

Light and colour are faded from the jade stops: Dust has covered the rose-red strings.

Decay and ruin came to it long ago, But the sound that is left is still cold and clear.

I do not refuse to play it, if you want me to: But even if I play, people will not listen.

How did it come to be neglected so?

Because of the Ch'iang flute and the Ch'in flageolet.[53]

[53] Barbarous modern instruments.