孟郊诗
Poems of Meng Jiao
Index
赠韩郎中愈
For Minister Han's Restoration
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何以定交契 赠君高山石 何以保贞坚 赠君青松色 |
How can I affirm our friendship? I'll send you these alpine stones. How can I preserve our faithfulness? I'll send you the color of these pines. |
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贫居过此外 无可相彩饰 闻君硕鼠诗 吟之泪空滴 |
Living humbly as you do, No one can add anything to you. When I heard your Large Rats poem, I cried my eyes out chanting it. |
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硕鼠既穿墉 又啮机上丝 穿墉有闲土 啮丝无馀衣 |
Large rats have already pierced our cities' walls And gnawed away our inmost thoughts. Compromised walls are only idle dirt and. Without our thoughts, we're naked. |
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朝吟枯桑柘 暮泣空杼机 岂是无巧妙 丝断将何施 |
Our morning chants come from withered sources. Our evening tears fall on an empty loom. How can there be so little intelligence? Thoughts end -- so what is left to give? |
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众人尚肥华 志士多饥羸 愿君保此节 天意当察微 |
Most men prefer fat splendor. Good men mostly waste away and starve. I want you to be cautious at this juncture -- The will of Heaven is profoundly exact. |
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前日远别离 今日生白发 欲知万里情 晓卧半床月 |
Yesterday, we parted for your distant journey. Today, my hair is turning white. If you want to know my distant feelings, Sleep in and view the morning moon from bed. |
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常恐百虫秋 使我芳草歇 |
I'm afraid there'll be a locust plague come autumn. Do send me some fragrant grassland's repose. |
-- 孟郊
废话
The title, I think, refers to Minister Han's return from exile. Exile was relatively common in the Tang. You made the faction in power angry. They sent you south to die of malaria while working in some official capacity. If you didn't die, you came back and picked up more or less where you left off.
One thing I have done in this poem is try to show the poetic use of 丝 (silk). It is being used as a metaphor for 思 (thoughts). Silk comes from silkworms which are fed on mulberry (桑) or cudrania (柘) leaves. Silk is worked on a loom, which can be called 杼机 or "shuttle machine." Both silk and thoughts are pronounced "si" but with different tones. It is not as common a metaphor-pun as "liu" where "willow" (柳) is punned on "to stay" (留). But it is a classical trope.