孟郊诗
Poems of Meng Jiao
Index
大隐坊赵记室俶在职无事
Great Obscurity Temple -- Secretary Zhao begins his task of negating things
卑静身后老 高动物先摧 方圆水任器 刚劲木成灰 |
Inferior, inactive, from an ancient family, He was good, mostly, at destroying things. He it was who brought the engines to the river And, robustly, reduced the temple to ashes. |
大道母群物 达人腹众才 时吟尧舜篇 心向无为开 |
Great Way, Mother of All Things, Wisdom of Man, Nurisher of the Multitude... When chanting in the days of Yao and Shun, Hearts opened to nature's effortless way. |
彼隐山万曲 我隐酒一杯 公庭何所有 日日清风来 |
Their secret was a myriad mountain hymns. My secret is this cup of wine. Where their great courtyard used to be Every day a pure wind blows through. |
-- 孟郊
废话
I think Meng Jiao has been drinking. I think he has been writing poems about 大隐坊's destruction by the government all day today. He wrote the first poem sober, perhaps. And then he had a little glass of wine (which in China is actually hard liquor of various kinds). Then he wrote a second poem, accompanied by another glass or few. And then he wrote this one when he was fully in his cups. A verse belittling the man in charge of destroying the temple. A maudlin verse of the Great Way, or Buddhist Law, in which Daoism and the ancient mythical kings slip in, thanks to alcoholic lubrication. And then a final verse, in the clarity of full drunkeness, which perhaps mourns the temple's loss better than any of the previous poems' verses did.