孟郊诗
Poems of Meng Jiao
Index
西斋养病夜怀多感因呈上从叔子云
Convalescing at Xizhai, I am overcome with emotion at night because of a letter from my brother-in-law.
远客夜衣薄 厌眠待鸡鸣 一床空月色 四壁秋蛩声 |
Distant wanderer, in skimpy pajamas, Despises sleep and waits upon cock's-crow. Entire bed bathed in empty moonlight. Autumn's crickets chirp from all four walls. |
守淡遗众俗 养疴念馀生 方全君子拙 耻学小人明 |
Nuturing my strength, I leave the common herd. As I improve, I think of what life remains. All-in-all, officialdom is crude and feeble. I'm ashamed to have studied petty things. |
蚊蚋亦有时 羽毛各有成 如何骐骥迹 踡跼未能行 |
Even pesky insects have their moment. Every hair and feather has its fullness. But even the best of horses couldn't run If it were cramped and bound like me. |
西北有平路 运来无相轻 |
Xibei has good roads. With luck, I will arrive without any problems. |
-- 孟郊
废话
I've seen this kind of poem before. Meng Jiao gets a letter from his brother-in-law. I assume this is a brother of his first wife. Otherwise, he's remarried now and older. Anyway, the letter makes him feel some things. So he writes a poem in response to these feelings, puts a normal response to the letter at the end, and manages to save a copy for posterity. You know, just in case it survives for fourteen hundred years ....
"Best of horses" is actually Qili, the name of a legendary best horse.