孟郊诗
Poems of Meng Jiao
Index
上张徐州
On Wide Xuzhou
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为水不入海 安得浮天波 为木不在山 安得横日柯 |
As a river denied the sea, How can I float on Heaven's waves? As a tree denied the mountains, How can I handle these hard times? |
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再来君子傍 始觉精义多 大德唯一施 众情自偏颇 |
Finding myself again among gentlemen, I begin to think upon the essentials. Great virtue has only one motive but I am partial to the feelings of the people. |
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至乐无宫徵 至声遗讴歌 愿鼓空桑弦 永使万物和 |
Happiness arrives without an imperial summons. Our voices arrive with songs of praise. I want to play upon the strings of my wooden qin And bring all things to eternal peace. |
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顾己诚拙讷 干名已蹉跎 献词惟在口 所欲无馀佗 |
I've already tried to speak slow and plain. It didn't get me anywhere. Praise is only in the mouth. You want it but it goes nowhere. |
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乍作支泉石 乍作翳松萝 一不改方圆 破质为琢磨 |
First poems spring out from love. First poems, like lichen on the pines. You don't edit them a thousand times. Polish would spoil their nature. |
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贱子本如此 大贤心若何 岂是无异途 异途难经过 |
So that was how I started out, A big virtuous mind -- and then what? How could I take the common road When the common road is so hard to travel? |
-- 孟郊
废话
A private poem, I think. If the collators have it in the right place, this is the period that Meng Jiao was associating more and more with the established poets in Luoyang: Han Yu, Jia Dao, and others. We don't really know much about these times of his. Just that he became more a part of the literary world by associating more with others.