More Translations from the Chinese Part 3

825 Governor of Soochow.

826 Retires owing to illness.

827 Returns to Ch'ang-an.

829 Settles permanently at Lo-yang.

831 Governor of Ho-nan, the province of which Lo-yang was capital.

833 Retires owing to illness.

839 Has paralytic stroke in tenth month.

846 Dies in the eighth month.

[11] AFTER Pa.s.sING THE EXAMINATION

[_A.D. 800_]

For ten years I never left my books; I went up ... and won unmerited praise.

My high place I do not much prize; The joy of my parents will first make me proud.

Fellow students, six or seven men, See me off as I leave the City gate.

My covered couch is ready to drive away; Flutes and strings blend their parting tune.

Hopes achieved dull the pains of parting; Fumes of wine shorten the long road....

Shod with wings is the horse of him who rides On a Spring day the road that leads to home.

[12] ESCORTING CANDIDATES TO THE EXAMINATION HALL

[_A.D. 805_]

At dawn I rode to escort the Doctors of Art; In the eastern quarter the sky was still grey.

I said to myself, "You have started far too soon,"

But horses and coaches already thronged the road.

High and low the riders' torches bobbed; m.u.f.fled or loud, the watchman's drum beat.

Riders, when I see you p.r.i.c.k To your early levee, pity fills my heart.

When the sun rises and the hot dust flies And the creatures of earth resume their great strife, You, with your striving, what shall you each seek?

Profit and fame, for that is all your care.

But I, you courtiers, rise from my bed at noon And live idly in the city of Ch'ang-an.

Spring is deep and my term of office spent; Day by day my thoughts go back to the hills.

[13] IN EARLY SUMMER LODGING IN A TEMPLE TO ENJOY THE MOONLIGHT

[_A.D. 805_]

In early summer, with two or three more That were seeking fame in the city of Ch'ang-an, Whose low employ gave them less business Than ever they had since first they left their homes,-- With these I wandered deep into the shrine of Tao, For the joy we sought was promised in this place.

When we reached the gate, we sent our coaches back; We entered the yard with only cap and stick.

Still and clear, the first weeks of May, When trees are green and bushes soft and wet; When the wind has stolen the shadows of new leaves And birds linger on the last boughs that bloom.

Towards evening when the sky grew clearer yet And the South-east was still clothed in red, To the western cloister we carried our jar of wine; While we waited for the moon, our cups moved slow.

Soon, how soon her golden ghost was born, Swiftly, as though she had waited for us to come.

The beams of her light shone in every place, On towers and halls dancing to and fro.

Till day broke we sat in her clear light Laughing and singing, and yet never grew tired.

In Ch'ang-an, the place of profit and fame, Such moods as this, how many men know?

[14] SICK LEAVE

[_While Secretary to the Deputy-a.s.sistant-Magistrate of Chou-chih, near Ch'ang-an, in A.D. 806_]

Propped on pillows, not attending to business; For two days I've lain behind locked doors.

I begin to think that those who hold office Get no rest, except by falling ill!

For restful thoughts one does not need s.p.a.ce; The room where I lie is ten foot square.

By the western eaves, above the bamboo-twigs, From my couch I see the White Mountain rise.

But the clouds that hover on its far-distant peak Bring shame to a face that is buried in the World's dust.

[15] WATCHING THE REAPERS

[_A.D. 806_]

Tillers of the soil have few idle months; In the fifth month their toil is double-fold.

A south-wind visits the fields at night: Suddenly the hill is covered with yellow corn.

Wives and daughters shoulder baskets of rice; Youths and boys carry the flasks of wine.

Following after they bring a wage of meat, To the strong reapers toiling on the southern hill, Whose feet are burned by the hot earth they tread, Whose backs are scorched by flames of the shining sky.

Tired they toil, caring nothing for the heat, Grudging the shortness of the long summer day.

A poor woman follows at the reapers' side With an infant child carried close at her breast.

With her right hand she gleans the fallen grain; On her left arm a broken basket hangs.

And _I_ to-day ... by virtue of what right Have I never once tended field or tree?

My government-pay is three hundred tons; At the year's end I have still grain in hand.

Thinking of this, secretly I grew ashamed; And all day the thought lingered in my head.

[16] GOING ALONE TO SPEND A NIGHT AT THE HSIEN-YU TEMPLE

[_A.D. 806_]