孟郊诗

Poems of Meng Jiao


Index

长安道

The Way of Chang'an


胡风激秦树
贱子风中泣
家家朱门开
得见不可入

A savage wind shakes the rich men's trees
But it's the poor outside who weep in it.
All the vermillion gates are open.
You can look. But you can't go in.

长安十二衢
投树鸟亦急
高阁何人家
笙簧正喧吸

On Chang'an's twelve great boulevards,
Hiding in the trees, the birds are hard-up too.
That tall tower, where the reed pipes make
Their sucking clamor, whose house is that?

-- 孟郊


废话

When Meng Jiao's peers said that his words cut to the bone, they did not mean he was savagely critical and outrageous. They meant he said plainly what their conscience and sense of justice longed to hear. He was a little rough-edged about it. But an edge to make you smile rather than wince. An edge that made you feel it might be time to misbehave. A dangerous edge, if you think about it.


Index