孟郊诗

Poems of Meng Jiao


Index

访疾

Visiting the Sick


冷气入疮痛
夜来痛如何
疮从公怒生
岂以私恨多

A weak spirit enters through painful sores.
Night comes. How to endure the pain?
Always the sores. Indignation rises.
How can you hate yourself so much?

公怒亦非道
怒消乃天和
古有焕辉句
嵇康闲婆娑

Indignant anger is not the Way.
Vanquishing anger is Heaven's harmony.
The ancients had their shining words.
Ji Kang, his idle dances.

请君吟啸之
正气庶不讹

I beg you, in your sadness,
Do not cheat yourself of vital energy.

-- 孟郊


废话

This is at least the second time that Meng Jiao has mentioned Ji Kang. Ji Kang was one of the more prominent members of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. They lived during the fall of the Han dynasty, removing themselves from society, discussing the Dao in a bamboo grove, and drinking heavily. They also wrote a lot, some of which exists to this day. One of my slow side-queries is to determine whether the Seven Sages or the poet Tao Qian is more responsible for the idealization of alcohol consumption among the highly cultured. At this point, it's a toss-up.


Index