孟郊诗

Poems of Meng Jiao


Index

偷诗

A Secret Poem


饿犬齰枯骨
自吃馋饥涎
今文与古文
各各称可怜

A hungry dog will gnaw old bones.
I'm consumed by a craving that makes me drool.
New writings, ancient writings,
Both move me to tears.

亦如婴儿食
饧桃口旋旋
唯有一点味
岂见逃景延

I also eat like a little baby
Rolling a sugared peach around my mouth.
If it only has a little savour,
How can I drift away and linger there?

绳床独坐翁
默览有所传
终当罢文字
别著逍遥篇

Old and sitting in my swinging chair,
There silent contemplation teaches.
In the end, you should stop writing and
Not keep filling up pages fancy-free.

从来文字净
君子不以贤

Writing has always been pure --
When gentlemen weren't making it virtuous.

-- 孟郊


废话

Not very secret apparently. Be careful what you write down. This secret's been booted around for fourteen hundred years. That said, poems are hard to date. Is Meng Jiao old here or is he thinking of another old writer in a rope chair? It seems like a maturely-worked poem. So I'd guess this is after he became an official.


Index