孟郊诗
Poems of Meng Jiao
Index
罪松
The Guilty Pine
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虽为青松姿 霜风何所宜 二月天下树 绿于青松枝 |
Even if the pine tree is beautiful, Why should hardship be its fate? For two months, all trees under Heaven Have been greener than this pine tree's branches. |
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勿谓贤者喻 勿谓愚者规 伊吕代封爵 夷齐终身饥 |
Do not let the young explain. Do not let the stupid decide. It is his generation's noble timbre To fast until he starves. |
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彼曲既在斯 我正实在兹 泾流合渭流 清浊各自持 |
Others may play another tune But I will speak the truth. Jing River flows into the Wei but Each keeps its nature, good or bad. |
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天令设四时 荣衰有常期 荣合随时荣 衰合随时衰 |
Heaven mandated four seasons. Bloom and fade, each has its time. He bloomed in a time of blossoms And withered in a fading time. |
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天令既不从 甚不敬天时 松乃不臣木 青青独何为 |
We do not follow Heaven's mandate. We do not respect its seasons. But a pine will bow to no one. Why must its purity stand alone? |
-- 孟郊
废话
This is at least the third poem about the noble pine tree. So it's time for the translator to make a wild-assed guess as to who Meng Jiao is talking about. All the pine tree poems come from around Meng Jiao's thirtieth year. This makes Cui Ning (崔寧) a good candidate for pinehood. He was the governor of Xichuan, the western of China's five districts. And Meng Jiao was a cultured wanderer of the west. When the Emperor Dezong came to power, he made a good beginning of sorting out rebellion, corruption, and taxation. But his judgment was never good and he ended up being an awful emperor.
Cui Ning had ruled the western district very independently, which made him a target of imperial jealousies. He was removed from his post and held in the capital. Cui Ning was apparently loyal to the emperor but considered the emperor's chancellor Lu Qi to be incompetent. This was possibly true, as Lu Qi then did all he could to implicate Cui Ning in another military governor's bid for power. The emperor believed the accusations and had Cui Ning strangled. So it is possible that these pine tree poems of Meng Jiao are about Cui Ning. It is even possible that Meng Jiao would have known Cui Ning personally, if at some distance. Meng Jiao was rising as a poet and even an unpoetic governor might have a poet invited to a banquet.