Book of Songs and Songs of Chu
If along the highroad
I caught hold of your sleeve,
Do not hate me;
Old ways take time to overcome.
If along the highroad
I caught hold of your hand,
Do not be angry with me;
Friendship takes time to overcome.
Wild and windy was the day;
You looked at me and laughed,
But the jest was cruel, and the laughter mocking.
My heart within is sore.
There was a great sandstorm that day;
Kindly you made as though to come,
Yet neither came nor went away.
Long, long my thoughts.
A great wind and darkness;
Day after day it is dark.
I lie awake, cannot sleep,
And gasp with longing.
Dreary, dreary the gloom;
The thunder growls.
I lie awake, cannot sleep,
And am destroyed with longing.
I go out at the Northern Gate;
Deep is my grief.
I am utterly poverty-stricken and destitute;
Yet no one heeds my misfortunes.
Well, all is over now.
No doubt it was Heaven’s doing,
So what’s the good of talking about it?
The king’s business came my way;
Government business of every sort was put upon me.
When I came in from outside
The people of the house all turned on me and scolded me.
Well, it’s all over now.
No doubt it was Heaven’s doing,
So what’s the good of talking about it?
The king’s business was all piled upon me;
Government business of every sort was laid upon me.
When I came in from outside
The people of the house all turned upon me and abused me.
Well, it’s over now.
No doubt it was Heaven’s doing,
So what’s the good of talking about it?
How the quails bicker,
How the magpies snatch!
Evil are the men
Whom I must call “brother.”
How the magpies snatch,
How the quails bicker!
Evil are the men
Whom I must call “lord.”
That the mere glimpse of a plain cap
Could harry me with such longing,
Cause pain so dire!
That the mere glimpse of a plain coat
Could stab my heart with grief!
Enough! Take me with you to your home.
That a mere glimpse of plain leggings
Could tie my heart in tangles!
Enough! Let us two be one.
With a faint flush I start to come out of the east
Shining down on my threshold, Fu-sang.
As I urge my horses slowly forwards,
The night sky brightens, and my day has come.
I ride a dragon car and chariot on the thunder,
With cloud-banners fluttering upon the wind.
I have a long sigh as I start the ascent,
Reluctant to leave, and looking back longingly;
For the beauty and the music are so enchanting,
The beholder, delighted, forgets that he must go.
Tighten the zither’s strings and smite them in unison!
Strike the bells until the bell-stand rocks!
Let the flutes sound! Blow the pan-pipes!
See the priestesses, how skilled and lovely,
Whirling and dipping like birds in flight,
Unfolding the words in time to the dancing,
Pitch and beat all in perfect accord!
The spirits, descending, darken the sun.
In my cloud-coat and my skirt of the rainbow,
Grasping my bow I soar high up in the sky.
I aim my long arrow and shoot the Wolf of Heaven;
I seize the Dipper to ladle cinnamon wine.
Then holding my reins, I plunge down to my setting,
On my gloomy night journey back to the east.
Deep and dim the distance, without a limit;
Vast, vacant verdancy, sans shape or form;
Even the faintest sound evokes an echo;
Even the simplest act becomes impossible.
Far on, far on, farther than can be measured;
Along, along, and all along never a bend.
In deepest melancholy of unassuaged grief;
Inconsolable, in sombrest gloom…
Riding the great waves, drifting with the wind,
I would go to rest where Peng Xian dwells…
I mounted a high cliff’s rocky walls
And stood at the woman rainbow’s highest point;
Resting on the sky, speeding over the rainbow,
On I rushed until I touched the heavens.
I sipped cool drops of refreshing dew,
And rinsed my mouth with fine flakes of hoar frost.
I went in the Cave of the Winds to rest myself,
But woke up with a start, gasping for breath.
I lighted upon Kun-lun and peered into the mists;
I rested on Min Mountain and looked down on the River.
I quailed as the leaping waters crashed among the boulders;
I listened to the shattering roar of the waves:
Wild and tumultuous, without order,
Vast and immense, knowing no bounds;
Sometimes compressed and swollen without an outlet,
Sometimes racing uncurbed, with nothing to check them;
Undulating, now upwards and now downwards,
Swirling and swaying, now left and now right;
Flowing in currents, now forwards and now backwards,
Dividing ebb and flow into equal periods.
I watched the fiery vapours cloud on cloud ascending;
I saw them where they condense in the dewy vapour of mist;
I grieved when the frost and snow fell down together;
I listened to the booming shock of the tidal waters…
There is no one who in his thoughts has been more loyal to his prince:
Forgetful of lowly rank and poverty.
In serving my prince with an undivided heart
My mind was obsessed; I knew not the door to his favours.
What crime was my loyalty, that it should be thus punished?
Sure, this was not the return that in my heart I looked for.
I walked not with the rest, and when I fell
My fall gave cause to the crowd for merriment.
I was charged with many crimes; I met with many a slander;
Caught in a mesh that I knew not how to untie.
My feelings were stifled and could not find expression,
For they screened me from my lord, that I might not explain myself.
Heavy with sorrow, I waited irresolutely;
But none cared to examine what lay within my heart.
I could not collect my disordered words to present him;
I wished to set forth my mind, but there was no way.
If I left and retired into silence, then no one could ever know;
And if I went in and shouted, still no one would hear my cries.
I stood for a long time waiting, sore perplexed by the quandary,
And my mind was vexed and troubled with many sorrows.
Once I dreamt that I climbed up to the heavens,
But when my soul had reached half-way, it could go no farther.
I summoned the God of Plague to interpret it for me:
He said, ‘Your ambition aspires, but will find no helpers;
And in the end you face peril alone, cut off from other men.
You may think of none but your prince, but you should not rely on him.’